Nearly 35 hectares of VTNA2 rice burned to ashes for unknown reasons
(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city has more than 35 hectares of spring rice, mainly VTNA2 rice variety, which is burnt, yellow and underdeveloped. Up to now, after nearly a month, the authorities have not found the cause and people are still confused and struggling to save the rice.
For the past 5 years, since the commune promoted the use of VTNA2 rice to replace the long-term rice variety IR 1820, Mr. Chu Sy Dung's family in Khanh Hau hamlet, Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city has regularly sown this rice variety on the family's 21 hectares of rice.
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| Khanh Hau Cooperative staff inspect diseased rice fields. Photo: Phu Huong |
“In the spring crop of 2017, my family had some fields affected like this, the yield decreased from 250 kg/sao to 50-70 kg/sao, however the area affected by the disease was small. This year, I sowed rice from the beginning of December 2017 lunar calendar. After more than 1.5 months, the rice plants had strong tillering, then the disease appeared. I pulled the rice and brought it to the pesticide store for people to see, then bought and sprayed it with chemicals to kill rice blast, root suffocation, and root nematodes. If one type did not work, I switched to another. But the disease did not improve but became more and more severe, nearly 15 sao of rice were bright yellow, burned dry, the roots were black, I was very impatient but did not know how to cure the disease. If this situation continued, the rice would not yield” - Mr. Dung worried.
Up to now, Hung Hoa commune has had 35 hectares affected by this "strange disease". Head of the commune's Agriculture Board, Mr. Duong Xuan Tham, is concerned: In the whole commune, there are 5 cooperatives, but currently only the rice area sown later, having to be re-sown due to the cold, and the young rice of Hong Quang cooperative is not affected by the disease.
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| Two diseased and disease-free rice fields lie next to each other. Photo: Phu Huong |
In the commune, VTNA2 rice variety has been continuously planted since 2105. This spring crop, this is also a rice variety in the city's oriented variety group, so we continue to use it, with over 200 hectares out of a total of 402 hectares of rice in Hung Hoa. The area of rice affected by disease is increasing rapidly, especially in fields located on high ground and acid sulfate soil. After spraying drugs to treat root nematodes, blast, root suffocation... without any effect, we are currently recommending people to spray drugs containing nutrients to help the rice grow, but there is no more feasible solution.
According to Mr. Trinh Thach Lam - Head of the Department of Crop Production, Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of the province, this is the second time this "strange disease" has appeared in Nghe An. In the spring crop of 2017, the disease also appeared in Hung Hoa commune but the area and level of damage were not significant. At present, only rice in Hung Hoa commune is affected by the disease and the disease only appears in rice fields using the VTNA2 variety.
The cause and type of the disease have not yet been determined, however, the initial steps have ruled out infectious microorganisms because there are no typical symptoms. The Department has taken samples of diseased rice to replant for monitoring and research. At the same time, it has instructed farmers to increase fertilization and spray phosphorus through leaves to help rice plants grow, increase resistance, and withstand diseases, and spray to kill some common pests such as blast, root nematodes, etc.