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At last, he Bridge s being built! Effects of cow milk on leaf curl virus of chlli |
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Chilli (Capsicum annum) is grown as a major cash crop in Jodhpur, Ajmer, Tonk, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh districts of Rajasthan. The local cultivars, Mathania-red, Haripur-Raipur and Mandoria are the most popular ones in these arid regions.
For the last four years, diseases of chilli have posed a serious threat in Jodhpur district. Major disease that is causing considerable losses in the yield is the leaf curl mosaic virus (LCV). The characteristic symptoms of LCV are bright yellow mosaic, leaf rolling, distortion and puckering, reduction in leaf size and stunting of the affected plant.
The white-fly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) transmitted gemini virus are the causal organisms of this disease. Gemini viruses in chilli are difficult and expensive to manage. The only startegies available are to spray insecticides or use virus-resistant crop-varieties.
We happened to come across the practice published in Honey Bee, vol 3(2):2 and vol 3(3&4):8 to control virus using cow milk. An attempt has been made to test the practice on farm by conducting trials to control LCV on a farmer’s field in Mathania village during 1997-98. The seeds of the cultivar, Mandoria were treated with raw cow milk for 24 hours. The seeds were dried and then sown to raise nursery. The roots of seedlings the were dipped in milk before transplanting in the field. In the field, milk was sprayed at intervals of 10 days. The incidence of LCV was recorded on the cow milk treated plants and on the plants with other treatments along with a control field. The results indicated that in the milk treated plants LCV incidence was recorded as the lowest (30.7%) when compared with other treatments. The cow milk treatment controlled the disease by 34%. An increase average fruit size (15.3 cm) per plant was also noticed.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 9(3):14, 1998 |
