Leaf curl Disease

Leaf curl

Leaf curl of urdbean is an economically important viral disease reported from across India. However, the outbreak of this disease is higher in South India especially in rice fallows. The disease is caused by tobacco streak virus. This disease is spread by many species of thrips. The affected plant becomes economically useless, as necrosis in the affected plant parts is common. This disease has the potential of causing heavy damage to the crop.

 

Symptoms:

• Symptoms of this disease may appear on the plant at any stage till maturity.
• The earliest symptoms appear on the leaflets as chlorotic spots around some lateral veins and its branches near the margin. Such leaflets show downward curling of the margins. Twisting of leaves may also be seen.
• On the lower surface of the infected leaves, brown details appear in the veins, which spread towards the stalks.
• The growth of infected plant stops and the plants remain dwarf as compared to other plants, and can be identified in the field even from a long distance.
• The plants infected at early stage remain stunted and are often killed.
• Affected leaves are very brittle and are broken with slight jerk.

 

Management

The management strategies aimed at controlling the thrips or their movement in the field is expected to bring down the incidence of leaf curl disease in mungbean.

• Seed treatment with insecticide imidacloprid @5g/kg seed
• Spraying the crop with imidacloprid @ 0.5ml/l  after 15 days of sowing.