Assessment of crop losses in potato due to late blight disease during 2006–2007

Late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans attacked potato crop early in the season during 2006–07 in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Karnataka. Almost entire potato crop in the state of Punjab was affected to a varying extent whereas in other parts of the country, the disease was reported from specific regions. In Punjab, Hoshiapur district was most affected (36% loss) followed by Kapurthala (27% loss), Jalandhar and Patiala (24% loss each). The total cumulative loss in the state was 349,860 t. In the case of Haryana, overall decline in production by 8.8% was recorded resulting in crop loss of 40,260 tons. In Uttar Pradesh, out of 18 districts, losses were highest in JP Nagar (56.1%) followed by Rampur (31.2%) and Bijnor (29.6%). The major potato producing districts comprising Kanpur Dehat, Kannauj and Farukhabad recorded minimal crop loss (upto 1.1%). The overall crop loss in the state was estimated at 3.91 lakh tons. Rabi crop in Maharashtra state was most affected in the districts of Pune and Satara. Highest crop loss was recorded in variety Atlantic (68.3- 72.3%) while minimal (5.1–9.3%) in Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Pukhraj. In Bihar, crop loss was highest in Katihar and Purnea (50% each) which was followed by West Champaran district (40%). Overall crop loss in the state was estimated at 4.95 lakh tons. In West Bengal, Howrah, Burdwan and Hooghly districts were worst affected (33.3% each) with overall loss of 28.04 lakh tons in the state. In Karnataka, Hasan (48.3%) was worst affected followed by Chikmagalore (44.3%) and Belgaum (25.3%) with overall loss of 2.82 lakh tons. Cumulative loss in the country due to late blight was estimated at 43.91 lakh tons.