Guavas in U.P: Over 50% infected, says CISH

Over 50% of the guavas in the state are infected with root-knot nematode. This is alarming when guava is one of the most important fruit crops of the region.
Director, Indian Council for Agricultural Research – Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (ICAR-CISH), T Damodaran, said that studies indicated that nematode infection was rare till 2015 in India. “With the introduction of exotic cultivars like Thai Pink, Taiwan Pink, the infection has spread extensively by infected planting material,” he said.
Studies conducted by CISH nematologist, PK Shukla, proved that these exotic cultivars have been highly susceptible to nematode infection and within one to two years of plantation, the orchards have started showing a decline in productivity.
Shukla said that traditional cultivars like Allahabad Safeda and indigenously released cultivars like Dhawal, Lalit, Lalima, Shweta, etc have, however, shown tolerance to nematode in comparison to exotic cultivars. “These cultivars should be preferred by growers extensively for large scale plantations to have a sustainable production,” said Shukla.
Sharing ways to tackle the infection, he said that the soil and roots of nematode infected grafts must be treated with Fluopyrum 0.05% solution at 15 days prior to transplantation in the main field. “Field planting should be done as deep as possible with drenching of 0.05% solution of fluopyrum at 2 litres per plant. The selection of field for establishment of guava orchard is also important as heavier soils are suppressive to nematodes. The best way is to assure absence of root-knot nematode in the field selected for establishment of a new guava orchard and constant application of bio-agents like ICAR FUSICONT, CISH bacterial bio-agent,” said Shukla.