Yield and fibre quality associated with cotton leaf curl disease of Bt-cotton in Punjab.

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD), caused by Gemini virus and transmitted through whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is a serious problem in Northern India, affecting the productivity to a great extent. Depending upon the severity of infection in susceptible varieties, the disease can cause upto 90.0 % yield losses besides this, it also causes deterioration in fibre quality. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of cotton leaf curl disease on seed cotton yield and fibre characters of two popular Bt-cotton hybrids in Punjab. The disease caused 52.7% reduction in number of bolls and 54.2 % in boll weight in Bt cotton hybrid RCH 134. Similarly, it reduced the fibre length from 29.1 to 26.2 mm (9.9%); fibre uniformity from 68.9 to 68.1% (1.1%); fibre strength from 29.1 to 26.9 g per texture (7.5%) and miconaire value from 5.2 to 5.0 g inch(-1) (3.8%). Similar results were reported in Bt cotton hybrid MRC 6304, where the disease reduced the boll number and boll weight by 46.1 and 43.4%, respectively. However, to the fibre quality was not much affected by varying level of disease severity. The studies clearly reflect the adverse impact of CLCuD on yield and fibre quality especially 2.5% span length. Thus suggesting the management of disease using integrated disease management strategies to avoid quantitative and qualitative losses.