• Farmers have reported “foot rot” disease on the saplings of Basmati variety of paddy that are in the nurseries.

ABOUT FOOT ROT DISEASE

• It is also known as Bakanae Disease.
• It is a soil and seed-borne deadly fungus which is seen only in the Basmati variety of paddy.
• It is caused by ‘Fusarium verticillioides’ fungi.
• The infected saplings turn pale yellow and become elongated and later, the saplings start drying and usually die.
• Symptoms sometimes appear after transplantation and the infected plants first grow way taller than the normal plants and die after a few days.