Himachal Pradesh: Hamirpur Farmers Worried Due to Yellow Rust Outbreak in Wheat Crop

Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), which causes stripe (yellow) rust, is a serious disease of wheat that affects the majority of wheat-growing regions during the growing season.

Farmers in above mentioned villages had informed the district's Agriculture Department about the outbreak and requested immediate action to control the disease and prevent it from spreading further.

A team of experts visited these villages to inspect the crops and discovered that the disease was in its early stages. Yellow rust can be effectively controlled with fungicides. The pathogen is also not particularly prone to developing fungicide resistance. Systemic seed treatments may help to delay the development of epidemics in areas where the risk is high.

According to Atul Dogra, Deputy Director of Agriculture, experts who visited the affected villages discovered that two to seven percent of the crop was infected with the disease.

If they notice yellow rust on the crop, they advised farmers to spray the Propiconazole fungicide solution in the wheat fields. Farmers who practice organic farming should spray a solution of one litre lassi in 20 litres of water every ten days, according to Dogra.

It is a major disease in India's Northern Hill Zone and North-Western Plain Zone, and it spreads quickly when cool weather arrives and wind conditions are favourable.