ANGRAU, Agricultural Research Station, Anatnapur-515001, Andhra Pradesh.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the 16th Annual Convention and International Symposium of Indian Virological Society on “Management of Vector-Borne Viruses” at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru-502324, Hyderabad, India, February 7–10, 2006.
Peanut stem necrosis disease (PSND) in groundnut caused by Tobacco streak virus (TSV) occurred in epidemic proportions in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh during kharif 2000 and 2004. Several flowering weeds are acting as natural hosts for the virus. Among them Parthenium hysterophorus, Cleome viscosa and Tridox procumbens are the important and widely distributed weeds. Virus transmission is assisted by thrips species viz., Frankliniella schultzei, Scirtothrips dorsalis and Magalurothrips usitatus. In presence of TSV infected pollen on leaves feeding damage caused by the vector thrips result in the virus transmission. Keeping this mode of transmission in view border cropping with four rows of sorghum was tested for the management of the disease. Six on-farm trials were conducted at different villages in the district where the disease pressure was high. In each trial two acres of plot was selected. One acre was allotted for border cropping and other without border cropping (control). Four rows of tall growing sorghum were sown as border crop. Disease incidence was recorded at 30 and 60 days after sowing and 66 per cent in disease reduction over control was recorded. Results indicate that sorghum as border crop is effective as mechanical barrier for wind-borne transmission of infected pollen and thrips and thus able to reduce the virus incidence on groundnut.
