Yellow Rust: a serious threat to wheat crop

摘要

Continuous monitoring of the crop for early detection of infection foci in resistant varieties is very important. Once such infection foci are seen in the crop, these should be managed by spot application of fungicides. Wheat is being cultivated overan area of 35.28 lac hectares in the Punjab state. Since 2007-08 yellow rust also known as stripe rust is continuously posing serious threat to wheat cultivation in the state. The disease has potential to cause serious losses in yield ranging from 4.2 to68.8 per cent depending upon the resistance of the cultivar and severity of the disease. The disease manifests in the form of yellow coloured powdery linear stripes on the leaves. Every year, the disease initially appears in the sub-mountainous area ofstate in thedistricts of Ropar, SBS Nagar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur which alone accounts for 14.8% of the area (5.24 lac ha) in the state.