The Gazetteers Department

Of Cereals :Kani. Specelotheca Sorqhi, locally known as kani or danekani, is a grain smut of jowar. This disease is detected only when ear heads come out. Normal grains are not formed in the diseased ear heads but black masses known as sort are formed which contains black powder. The black powder consists of millions of spores of the fungus. This disease attacks the kharif jowar between September and November and rabi jowar between December and February. It is controlled by treating the seed with 200 to 300 mesh fine sulphur at the rate of 0.028 kg. of sulphur to 6.8 kg. of seed.

Kajali. Spacelotheca Cruenta, locally known as kajali is a loose smut of jowar. The indication of existence of this disease and that of kani is the same with the only difference that in the latter the wall of sorus gets ruptured and black mass of powder is exposed which gives a blackish appearance to the ear heads. The disease affects both types of jowar viz., kharif and rabi. The diseased and healthy ear heads are mixed and spread infection when thrashed. The affected ear heads are removed and destructed in order to check the disease. Among other things treating the seed with 200 to 300 mesh fine sulphur at the rate of 0.028 kg. of sulphur to 6.8 kg. of seed also gives effective control of this disease.

Chikta. Spacelia sorghi, is a sugary disease of jowar known as chikta. The disease is detected only when sugary secretions are noticed. The drops of the oozing which fall on the leaves are sticky. Controlling aphids through the use of insecticides helps in reducing the intensity of the disease.

Ergot of Bajra. Clavicep microcephala locally known as ergot, is a disease of rare occurrence and the extent of damage caused is negligible. It is a seed borne and soil borne disease affecting the crop between September and November. The disease is controlled by crop rotation system and steeping the grain in 20 per cent salt solution and removing sclerotal bodies and burn inc them. The steeped grain is washed twice with water to remove the trace of salt and finally dried.

Of Pulses :Mar. Fusarium Oxysporum, is the wild disease of tur which is locally known as mar. The disease is soil-borne and affected plants appear sickly. When the roots of affected plants are open, they exhibit brown discolouration of vascular tissue. The disease is put under control by growing wilt resistant varieties such as C-11, C-28 and C-36.

Of Groundnut: Tikka. Cercospora arachidicola, Cercospopra personata, is an air borne disease of groundnut. It is locally known as tikka. It affects the crop between July and September and late varieties upto October. Conspicuous purple brown, round spots appear on leaves. Infected plant debris provides the source of infection. Shedding of the leaves becomes a striking feature of this disease. The disease is controlled bv spraying on both sides of the foliage bordeaux mixture thrice in the proportion of 5: 5: 50. Another method is dusting the crop with 200 to 300 mesh-fine sulphur.

Of Cotton : Kawadi. Anthracnose, a seed borne disease, is locally known as kawadi. The disease is caused by a fungus parasite. The disease manifests itself as 'seedling-rot, collar-rot, and damping off in the seedling stage of the crop and as boll-rot when the crop starts bearing. In the later case, it results in developing short, immature, weak and discoloured lint.

Dahiya, Remularia arelsa, locally known as dahiya, is a gray mildew of cotton. The disease manifests itself when small grayish white spots first appear on lower leaves. When the attack is severe, white spots appear on both the sides of leaves resulting into defoliation of the plant. The spores of the fungus are propagated by wind from diseased to healthy crops. The disease is controlled by dusting of 200 to 300 mesh-fine sulphur at the rate of 16.78 kg. per hectare before the appearance of the disease in August.

Karpa. Xunithumonas malvacearum, locally known as karpa, is a minor disease of cotton. It appears at first sight as small water soaked areas on leaves which are angular in shape. These spots later on coalesce involving greater part of the leaf. The mature bolls when attacked open prematurely and the lint from such bolls bears yellow stain. The American cotton variety is more susceptible to its attack than deshi variety. Primary infection on seedlings occurs through bacteria carried in the fuzz on the seed but the secondary source of infection is through splashing rain drops carried by the wind. The seed borne infection is controlled by seed disinfection through fungicides but the secondary infection cannot be controlled by any direct method. Breeding for resistance is therefore, the only practicable method.

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