Yellow rust spotted in wheat grown in moutaineous areas:PAU

Ludhiana, Feb 4 (PTI) Punjab Agricultural Universitytoday warned of severe damage to wheat yield if yellow rustdisease was not controlled at the earliest.

A survey conducted by PAU found the appearance of yellowrust disease in the sub-mountainous areas of Ropar,Hoshiarpur,Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Gurdaspur districts.

Elaborating further, the head of the Department of PlantPathology T S Thind said that due to the changing weather, theconditions were becoming favourable for the spread of thedisease. "If not controlled, the disease can adversely affectyield performance of wheat," he said.

Advising the farmers, the PAU experts asked them toinspect the crop at regular intervals.

"The disease results in the formation of yellow stripeson leaves. In case the symptoms of yellow rust disease arenoticed on the crop, one should go for spot application of therecommended fungicides immediately to check further spread ofthis disease," stressed the PAU scientists.

Punjab has put 35 lakh hectares area under wheatcultivation for the current Rabi season and expects wheatoutput of 154 lakh MT.