Cabbage crop in Kangra hit by fungal disease

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, September 19

Cabbage crop in several villages of remote Chhota-Bhangal area in Kangra district has been hit by a fungus known as the blackleg disease. Dyot, Kothikohar, Nalhota, Badagran and Lohardi villages, which are the main cabbage-producing areas, are worst-hit.

A team of experts from HP Agriculture University (HPAU), Palampur, and the state Agriculture Department visited the affected areas today.

A total of 152 hectares are under cabbage cultivation in the valley. The team told farmers how to treat seeds with Bavistin fungicide while sowing. The experts said that farmers should ensure drainage of water in fields and uproot and destroy infected plants.

The experts found that the kidney beans crop was also affected by angular leaf spot disease, which could be treated by spraying 1gm Bastivin/litre of water solution. HPAU Vice-Chancellor HK Chaudhary said, “This disease can survive for up to four years in seed and three years in infected crop debris. Crop rotation is the best way for disease management.”

Chaudhary said that radish, potato, coriander and French beans could be some of the options for crop rotation. He added that farmers could rotate these crops for the next two to three years so that the pathogen would die in the soil. He added that people of the Chhota-Bhangal area had abandoned potato farming, which was earlier grown there in abundance.

Arun Sood, Principal Extension Specialist, Extension Directorate of the HPAU, said that the blackleg disease was caused by a fungus called Phoma lingam. He added that the fungus attacked many brassica crops and spreaded rapidly. The plants could be affected at the seedling stage or at any other stage in the field. He said that its common symptoms were slight lesions on stems at cotyledon scars.

Experts suggest crop rotation

• Dyot, Kothikohar, Nalhota, Badagran and Lohardi villages in Kangra, which are the main cabbage-producing areas, are the worst-hit.
• A team of experts from HP Agriculture University (HPAU), Palampur, and the state Agriculture Department visited the affected areas on Monday.
• This disease can survive for up to four years in seed and three years in infected crop debris. Crop rotation is the best way to manage it, said HPAU VC