Tundu Disease Or Ear Cockle Disease

List of symptoms/signs

Quit frequently the ear-cockle nematode ( Anguina Tritici) is

associated or act as vector with a bacterium (Coynebacterium

michiganense var. tritici) causing a disease a called Tundu or
yellow year rot.
Primarily yellow ear rot or tundu disease consist of parallel
yellow or white streaks along leaf veins. Later, a conspicuous
yellow exudate appears on wheat heads
Heads and necks frequently emerge as a distorted, sticky mass
At an earlier stage, leaves may wrinkle or twist as they emerge
from the bacteria-laden whorl. When dry, the exudate appears as
white flecks on the heads and upper leaf surfaces. Affected
seedlings are stunted
The nematode enters the floral primordia and become endoparasite and eventually the floral
primordial converted into seed galls.
Another interesting feature is the early emergence of ears in the nematode infected plants which is
about 30 to 40 days earlier than the healthy ones.
The dry hardened exudate mechanically distorts the leaves, heads and necks and inhibits or prevents
elongation
Symptoms of seed-gall nematode (Anguina tritici) are normal in this disease which include stunting,
wrinkled, twisted leaves and the replacement of kernels by galls
Two types of galls have been observed in India viz. those with bacterial ooze on the surface and those
without.

Fruit - lesions: on pods

Inflorescence - dieback
Inflorescence - twisting and distortion
Leaves - abnormal colours
Leaves - abnormal forms
Leaves - necrotic areas
Leaves - odour
Seeds - discolorations
Seeds - galls
Stems - distortion
Whole plant - dwarfing

Perpetuation: Nematode can remain dormant is the grains having galls over a period of more than 10 years and are
capable to cause.

Prevention and control

Physical Methods
Soaking the seed in 20% brine (NaCl or KCl) is very effective because galls float and can be skimmed
off, while the seed settles on the bottom. After soaking in brine, wheat seed should be washed 2-3
times with water to avoid effect of salt on germination
The seed can then be soaked in water for 2 hr and heated at 51C for 30 min. The hot water first
reactivates and then kills dormant nematode larvae.
Cultural Methods
Removing galls from contaminated seed eliminates the

disease. Galls are easily recognized by their dark colour. A great

number of galls are removed when the chaff is discarded during
threshing
Crop rotation with a non gramineae species

Wheat, barley or oat should not be sown in the infested field.

Chemical treatment of soil with nematicides has also been recommended when there is heavy soil infestation. Nemaphos
(Zinophos), aldicarb or thionazin can be applied to soil. Nemaphos applied @ lO kg a.i./ha destroyed the active juveniles
released in soil. Soil treatment with Aldicarb10G (Temik10G) @ 20 kg/ha and Carbofuran 3G @30Kg/ha gave good control
of ear cockle and tundu of wheat.Seed soaking with dimethoate, carbosulfan (Marshal 25 EC) @15 ml/kg seeds can also
be adopted for providing better crop with early protection against nematode.