Integrated Disease Management in Rice: Experience from the Northwestern Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir

Integrated Disease Management (IDM) plays a crucial role in improving the yields and quality of produce. Resistant variety, seed treatment, optimum spacing, use of balanced fertilizers and proper water management are some important components of IDM. There is need to test and demonstrate these IDM modules at farmers’ field for their wider adaptability. To fulfil this objective On-farm trials and front-line demonstrations were conducted on IDM in rice crop in district Kulgam of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory. The results indicated that use of old disease susceptible varieties, farmers tendency to use higher doses of nitrogen fertilizer and reluctance for using fungicides were major reasons of disease incidence. Crop yield improvement to the tune of 15.5 to 36 per cent by IDM module over farmers practice and returns were also higher in former. The results signify the role of integration of disease management techniques under changing climatic conditions and increasing costs of cultivation and threats to the environment due to indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals.