Scientists from the Rice Research Station (RRS) in Kaul, Kaithal, a regional research centre under Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, have found traces of Southern Rice Black-Streaked Dwarf Virus, also known as Fiji virus, in several villages across Haryana’s paddy belt.
Event Context
After three days of field surveys, the scientists said that they have detected the spread of virus in Kaithal, Karnal and Kurukshetra districts, while there have been reports from Ambala and Yamunanagar districts as well.
Farmers in the belt now fear widespread damage due to crop dwarfing, which also occurred in the region last year. They claim some farmers have already destroyed their transplanted paddy to restart transplantation and ensure a timely crop.
Officials said the virus was first reported in the region in 2022, resurfaced last year, and has returned again this season. They said the virus poses a serious threat to crop productivity and growth and if not detected promptly, it may affect the yield by nearly 80%.
Player Focus
Sumit Saini, assistant scientist in the entomology department at the RRS, said the major impact has been seen on early-sown non-basmati varieties, particularly hybrid and PR varieties.
According to Vishal Gandhi, assistant scientist in the plant pathology department, the disease restricts plant growth, causing erected dark green leaves and weak brown roots, which overall hampers crop production. He said that their teams started inspecting fields during the nursery stage but did not detect any trace of the virus.
“Now after transplantation, we visited over 20 villages and observed symptoms in some fields. We usually check small plants with such symptoms and send them to Hisar for verification. Our surveys are still underway and we can only verify the damaged area after completion,” he said.
Gandhi believes there is a likely spread this year due to favourable weather conditions, specifically less but intermittent rain in recent weeks and high humidity, which leads to the multiplication and easy spread of the white-backed planthopper.
Mehar Chand, regional director of the station said that given the developing situation, a fortnightly advisory is being issued to farmers to remain vigilant and immediately remove infected plants upon virus detection.
Team Analysis
“To control the white-backed planthopper, farmers have been advised to spray the recommended insecticides and inspect fields regularly. Our teams are also vigilant and visiting various villages of the belt daily,” he added.
Karnal deputy director of agriculture (DDA) Wazir Singh said teams are ready to visit fields upon any report of virus detection from farmers.
Ambala DDA Jaswinder Saini said they have not received any report of the virus detection, but have found the spread of rice leaf folder infection in 500-600 acres of fields in Naraingarh and Mullana blocks, which the department is addressing.
