Acting Director of the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala, Anitha Karun has said that plastic mulching taken up on trial basis in five Yellow Leaf Disease-hit arecanut plantations in Karnataka has revealed that it has helped in preventing the spread of the disease.
Speaking after visiting two plastic mulching experimental plantations in Sullia taluk in Dakshina Kannada on Monday, she said that the CPCRI has taken up plastic mulching on five Yellow Leaf Disease-hit gardens in the State. Of these, two plots are in Markanja village, one in Kalmakar village of Sullia taluk and two are in Sringeri.
She said that plastic mulching was taken up four years ago. “This is the fifth year of the experiment. We found that there is no spread of the disease in all the five plots. Symptoms have also reduced,” she added.
Earlier, a team of scientists, led by her, visited an experimental plantation each in Kalmakar and Markanja villages.
The CPCRI has taken up plastic mulching to reduce soil moisture. At the same time, it is feeding bio-fertilizers and bio-nutrients to the affected palms.
The former CPCRI Director P. Chowdappa, who is also heading the technical committee of the Karnataka Task Force on Arecanut, told The Hindu that mulching using bio-degradable plastic to reduce soil moisture, application of bio-fertilizers and bio-nutrients and using bio-agents in Yellow Leaf Disease-affected plantations will help save palms which may continue to give yield. It is a short-term measure to save the plantations.
As a long-term measure, alternative fruit crops such as rambutan, avacado, dragon fruit, mangosteen and bamboo can be cultivated. A progressive farmer and farm scientist D.C. Chowta of Meeyapadavu in Kasaragod district, Kerala, has been cultivating fruit crops successively now.
Mr. Chowdappa, who is Vice-Chancellor, Bharatiya Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) Innovation University, Anantpur, said that it is estimated that about 14,000 hectares of arecanut could have been hit by the Yellow Leaf Disease in the country. The disease was first reported in the State in 1965. Now, it is spread in parts of Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada districts.
