India recalled Bangladeshi scientists to prevent wheat blast disease

The Dhaka Times Desk An outbreak of wheat blast disease has occurred in India. Indian scientists will work together with Bangladeshi scientists to prevent this blast disease.

According to a report by the country's news agency IANS, due to the occurrence of wheat blast disease in West Bengal last February, agricultural experts of the state's Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University are trying to better understand the germs responsible for the disease with the experience of scientists from the Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU). This disease has appeared for the first time in India.

Sunita Mohapatra, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Plant Pathology, Vidhan Chandra Agricultural University, India, said, “Since Bangladeshi scientists have been continuing their research on blast since 2016, by working together with them, we can go one step further.

“Their practical experience will help us. Even this kind of research will help Bangladesh in other South Asian countries where the disease is at risk of outbreak.”

Sunita is looking forward to join this work with Bangladeshi researchers on behalf of the Agricultural Research Council of India.

A type of fungus called Magnaporthe oryzae was initially thought to be responsible for the wheat blast disease, but the scientists of Bangladesh have not yet found any specific cause of the disease.

This disease first appeared in Brazil in 1985. The disease then appeared in Bolivia, Paraguay and parts of Argentina in South America.

Then in February 2016, the disease broke out in Bangladesh for the first time outside of South America. In 8 districts of the country leading in wheat production, 90% of the wheat of more than 15 thousand hectares of land was destroyed last year due to the blast disease.

Regarding the symptoms of the disease, the wheat grain may stop growing or become deformed in less than a week when the symptoms of the disease appear in wheat; In some cases, the symptoms are not even understood. Blast disease leaves only yellowish husks instead of grains.

It is to be noted that the present world threat to reduce food production has already been developed by a research team of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University to quickly and conveniently identify wheat blast in wheat seeds, asymptomatic seedlings and other species after wheat production in Bangladesh was disrupted due to the impact of this disease. The head professor of biotechnology department of the university. Tofazzal Islam led the research.