1Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, 171 001, HP.
2Field Research Laboratory, Leh-Ladakh, C/o 56 APO, J&K.
Potato crop with respect to its health status, vector pressure, varietal pattern and seed source(s) was surveyed in different parts of Leh and Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir during July 2003. The crop which almost exclusively comprised cv. Kufri Chandramukhi showed heavy degeneration as was apparent from sickly appearance marked with foliar symptoms of mosaics, wavy leaf margins and leafroll at majority of the locations. Aphid level varied from extremely low to fairly high. Correspondingly comparative crop health also varied. Immuno electron microscopic analysis of samples revealed the presence of aphid transmitted viruses viz. PVA, PVY and PLRV besides PYX and PVS. The degeneration of seed stocks was found to be due to infrequent replacement of stocks with healthy ones.
