Central team constituted on paddy dwarfing disease; IARI interim report identifies cause of disease

The Central Government seems to be quite worried about the unknown mystery dwarfing disease in paddy crop plants in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This is why, taking cognizance of the media reports that came on Monday, it has constituted an eight-member central team and asked it to go to the affected states of Punjab and Haryana for an on-the-spot assessment. The team has been asked to submit its detailed report to the Agriculture Commissioner of the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday, that is, just in a day’s time. On the other hand, according to the information gathered by Rural Voice, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has submitted a report on the disease. The report says that the cause of the disease has been identified to a great extent. The possibility of Grass Stunt Virus (GSV) or phytoplasma bacteria is being considered to be the cause of the dwarfing of the plants.

On 22 August 2022, the Additional Commissioner (Crops) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare issued a memorandum for the constitution of the Central team. It has requested the team to submit a detailed report to the Agriculture Commissioner by 23 August 2022.

On Monday, Rural Voice had published a report on the unknown mystery disease that was causing 5 per cent to 20 per cent dwarfing in the paddy fields in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The report gives information about the possible factors leading to the disease as per talks with Dr A.K. Singh, Director, IARI, Pusa. See https://eng.ruralvoice.in/latest-news-24/fear-of-decline-in-rice-production-as-acreage-down-and-mystery-dwarfing-disease-hits-in-punjab-and-haryana.html

On the other hand, IARI has submitted a report to the Union Ministry of Agriculture. According to this report, a team of IARI scientists visited the fields of the farmer Pritam Singh at Urlana Khurd, Panipat, Haryana on 2 August 2022. It collected plant samples from there. Subsequently, IARI Director Dr A.K. Singh visited the paddy field of the farmer Prakash Singh of the village Bachki in Pehwa, Kurukshetra. The IARI team has examined the samples of paddy plants. The report says that it was found in the field survey that infected plants remained stunted even after the application of the recommended dose of fertilizers. It may be assumed on this basis that deficiency of fertile nutrients is not the reason behind the dwarfing of the plants.

The IARI report says that based on the symptoms observed under field conditions, putative infection of phytoplasma or virus was suspected. The DNA isolation of these samples and its gene sequencing report will be able to clarify the stunting problem in plants to a great extent. According to the report, IARI has conducted preliminary investigations and observed symptoms of phytoplasma in the plant samples. Besides, GSV is also being considered to be a possible pathogen.

Dr Rajbir Singh, Director, Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Ludhiana, and Dr Subhash Chander, Director, ICAR-National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM), Pusa, New Delhi have been appointed the Co-Team Leaders of the eight-member team formed by the Ministry of Agriculture. Other members of the team include Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director, PAU, Ludhiana; Dr Jeet Ram Sharma, Director of Research, CCSHAU; Dr Amalendu Ghosh, Senior Scientist, Virology, IARI, Pusa, New Delhi; Dr V.D. Nigam, Deputy Director (E), RCIPMC, Faridabad; Suresh Kumar, Assistant Director (PP), CIPMC, Jalandhar; and Dr Vikrant Singh, Joint Director, DWD, Gurugram, DA&FW.