Technological innovations in disease management for eco-friendly and sustainable cotton production

摘要

India has not only attained self-sufficiency in meeting domestic needs of cotton but also earns one-third of her total foreign exchange through the export of raw cotton and its products. The present production of 16.7 million bales is however, below our projection target of 19.0 million bales for 2000 A.D. As there is no further scope for expansion of area under cotton, the increased demand will have to be realised through prevention of 30-70 per cent losses that occur every year due to various pests, including diseases. Cotton is affected by a wide array of diseases of bacterial, fungal and viral nature. The present management strategy besides, cultivating resistant cultivars, employs chemicals which however, is a matter of concern for various reasons. Under such conditions biological control by exploiting the antagonists of pathogens and natural plant products offer a practical, eco-friendly and economic alternative for the management of diseases. Transformation of native cotton phylloplane/ rhizosphere colonizers with novel antagonistic genes can inhibit pathogens preventing the diseases. Engineering cotton for constitutive expression of novel protein products such as chitinase, glucase, antibiotics including pathogen derived resistance factorscan provide lasting solutions to various diseases including the destructive leaf curl viral disease. Development of diagnostic tools for rapid detection of pathogens, their races and strains can aid in precise identification and epidemiological studies.Such tools can aid in detection of latent infections in seeds and other parts of plants thereby enabling timely adoption of disease management strategies.