Heat, disease may hit wheat crop in India's Punjab

CHANDIGARH, India, March 18 (Reuters) - High temperatures and a disease may cut forecast wheat output by about 5 percent in India's Punjab state, farm scientists said, but the government said there was no need to cut its crop estimate yet.

Some districts of the key producing state have reported yellow rust in the crop, but areas where recently introduced varieties were planted had not been affected, said H.S. Rewal, head of plant pathology at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana.

"Yellow rust may reduce wheat yield by 2 percent to 5 percent in the areas where its incidence is higher," he said.

The state government said output should meet its 15.5 million tonnes estimate unless high temperatures persisted. The state produced 15.7 million tonnes last year.

Punjab's Director of Agriculture, Balwinder Singh Sidhu, told Reuters that yellow rust had spread in the state, but it may not lower the yield considerably since the crop had almost matured.

"We are hopeful of producing 15.5 million tonnes wheat this year, but it all depends on the weather over the next 15 days. If there's a sharp rise in the temperatures, productivity of wheat could be impacted," he said.

Farm economist P.S. Rangi, a marketing consultant with the Punjab State Farmers Commission, expected a bigger impact.

"I think overall yield of wheat may be lowered by more than 5 percent as the temperatures have remained higher this time. The farmers should change their seeds to minimise the impact of the diseases," he said.

Chatar Singh, Director of the Chandigarh office of the Indian Meteorological Department, said the average maximum temperature in Punjab was 24.9 degrees Celsius, up from 22.8 degrees a year ago. (Reporting by Ikhhlaq Singh Aujla; Editing by John Mair)