Management of important diseases of barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea) in mid-western Himalayas

Small millet crops have a long history of cultivation of more than 5000 years and grown in many states (1) due to their unique adaptation properties for poor degraded lands and ability to tolerate abiotic stress. Six small millets viz, finger millet, barnyard millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, kodo millet and little millet are the most important small millet crops of India. Among these, barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea (Roxb.) Link) also called as Jhangora, Sawan or Madira (hindi), has emerged as very important dual purpose feed and fodder crop. It is grown in many countries like, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, East Indies, Africa and United States of America (6). In India, the crop is grown in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar. In Uttarakhand, it is grown over an area of about 66.09 thousand ha with annual production of 85.29 thousand tons (10) under rainfed conditions by small and marginal farmers in difficult conditions of cultivation at the mid-hill regions. However, productivity of the crop is reduced due to a number of diseases, viz; Helminthosporium leaf spot or blight, grain smut and head smut caused by H. crusgalli, U. panici - frumentacei and U. crusgalli, respectively. These diseases cause severe losses in India (7,6). Therefore, investigations were undertaken to identify sources of resistance against these diseases and to manage grain smut disease of barnyard millet which are reported in this paper.