Status of Karnal bunt in farmers’ own saved wheat seed in Haryana

The survey was carried out in 10 districts of Haryana to find out status of Karnal bunt in farmers'saved wheat seed samples during 2007–08 to 2010–11. The results revealed that out of 1713 samples, only 289 samples (16.87%) were found infected with Karnal bunt. The overall range of infection was observed 0.05 – 0.25 per cent which is within permissible limit of IMSCS for quality seed production. None of the districts was found free from Karnal bunt. The overall 0.023 per cent average infection was recorded, the maximum in Yamuna Nagar (0.050%) followed by Karnal (0.038%) and minimum in Sirsa (0.009%) followed by Hisar (0.010%). Of 1713 samples, the maximum percentage of infected samples was found in Yamuna Nagar (34.61%) followed by Karnal (27.13%), Kurukshetra (17.84%) and Kaithal (15.21%) districts, whereas minimum percentage was in Sirsa (9.15%) followed by Jind (10.14%), Hisar (10.58%), Panipat (11.46%), Sonipat (12.00%) and Fatehabad (12.24%). The results indicated that north-eastern districts were having higher Karnal bunt infection than south-western districts of Haryana. Therefore, seed production programme of wheat should be taken in south-western districts of Haryana.