Epidemiology and management of flag smut (Urocystis agropyri (Preuss) Schroet) of wheat
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Date
2022-05-02
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palampur
Abstract
The investigation entitled “Epidemiology and management of flag smut (Urocystis agropyri (Preuss)
Schroet.) of wheat” was conducted at the Department of Plant Pathology, CSK HPKV, Palampur and
Research Sub Station, Akrot during 2018-21. The average disease incidence at different locations of
Himachal Pradesh varied from 2.11 to 17.77 per cent during two consecutive years. Based on molecular
characterization, the pathogen was confirmed to be Urocystis agropyri. The maximum spore germination
(18.92 %) was recorded after 8 months of inoculum burial in soil while, no germination occurred till 4
months of storage due to the spore dormancy. Inoculation of germinating seed with dry inoculum @ 10 g
inoculum/ kg seed proved to be the best method to incite disease with highest incidence of 58.18 per cent.
Inoculum load of 20 g inoculum/ kg seed adversely affected the seed health parameters like germination
percentage and vigour index of seed as well as growth rate and dry weight of the seedlings with 13.70,
52.96, 54.41 and 6.73 per cent reduction, respectively. However, the maximum reduction in speed of
seedling germination/ emergence (15.01 %) was found at 17.5 g inoculum/ kg seed. The maximum incidence
of disease (44.87 and 40.64 %) was recorded at soil moisture and temperature of 30 % and 22℃,
respectively. Among the weather parameters, the maximum and minimum temperatures were the most
important factors for disease development as an increase in the temperature from 11.78 - 22.75℃ at
Palampur and 09.20 - 26.13℃ at Akrot increased the disease incidence during both the years. The disease
incidence was found to be maximum (13.28 and 16.47%) in 15th November sown crop at Palampur during
both the years. While, at Akrot, it was maximum in 15th November sown crop (25.50 %) during 2019-20 and
in 30th November sown crop (37.49 %) during 2020-21. Out of 210 wheat germplasm lines/ genotypes, 71
were found immune, 45 as highly resistant and 34 as moderately resistant. The late sowing of wheat was
found to be the best with minimum disease incidence of 10.79 per cent followed by early sowing (21.47 %).
The sowing depth of 2 cm showed minimum disease incidence of 12.98 per cent. Among the tested organic
amendments, Jeevamrit @ 10 ml/ kg soil gave the maximum reduction (82.94 %) in the incidence of flag
smut. While, amongst biocontrol agents as seed and soil treatments, resident Trichoderma viride @ 10 g or
ml/ kg seed or soil was found to be most effective against the disease with maximum reduction of 47.50 and
34.02 per cent, respectively. From botanicals, the seed treatment with aqueous extracts of Eucalyptus
tereticornis @ 15 % concentration was found to be the best with maximum disease control of 79.44, 71.85,
80.30 and 77.55 per cent under two approaches of pathogen inoculation in pot and field experiments,
respectively. Among fungicides, tebuconazole 060 FS at 1, 2 and 3 ml/ kg seed, carboxin 37.5% + thiram
37.5% DS, carbendazim 50 WP and carboxin 75 WP at 3 g/ kg seed were found most effective giving
complete control of the disease under both the approaches of pathogen inoculation in pot and field
experiments. The integration of tebuconazole 060 FS @ 1 ml/ kg seed with Jeevamrit @ 10 ml/ kg soil (as
soil treatment); E. tereticornis @ 15 % concentration (as seed treatment); and soil treatment with Jeevamrit
and seed treatment with E. tereticornis gave complete control of the disease. On the basis of morphological
and molecular characterizations, 17 isolates of U. agropyri were grouped into four groups each i.e. FSG 1 to
FSG 4 and FSV1 to FSV4, respectively. The group FSV 1 and FSV 2 were further subgrouped into six
subgroups i.e. FSV 1a, FSV 1b, FSV 2a, FSV 2b, FSV 2c and FSV 2d