Management of viral diseases through conventional approaches in India

Abstract

Viral diseases of crop plants cause enormous economic losses as most of the cultivated areas in India are in subtropical and tropical regions which provide congenial environment for multiplication of viruses and their vectors. Intensive agricultural practices for fulfilling the demand of food for the growing population has further contributed to the diseases and pests problems. Under favourable condition, the viral disease incidence can be as high as 100% resulting into serious losses to the farmers and consumers. The control of plant viral diseases has been challenging because of unavailability of effective direct method of control by chemical applications. Hence, indirect methods of managing viral diseases has been utilized such as use of modified cultural practices, use of virus-free planting materials, use of host resistance to viruses and their insect-vectors, cross protection, application of insecticides and oils for the control of virus viruses. Some success in viral disease management has been achieved by using a combination of these approaches in few crops. The range of conventional management approaches that have been studied and applied against plant viral diseases in India are summarized in this chapter.