Plant Virus That Becomes Friendly

The book describes a fact that a virus, stamped as a poisonous one, also alternatively becomes a friendly without any adverse environmental impact on crop improvement. This dual identity of the described virus has been expressed through two phylogenetically unrelated hosts like rice and fibre crops. In one case (monocot) the virus is destructive while in other case (dicot) it is friendly in nature, i.e. improves plant growth and yield. The book contains the details of this newly appeared virus including characterization, transmissibility, effects on hosts, its passage through seeds (termed as Energized seed) and the low-cost production technology developed for farmers’ benefit for jute cultivation. The book also deals with the improvement (rather enhanced efficiency) in vascular tissue differentiation in jute leading to production of higher number of fibre bundles (upon entry of the virus into the host) indicating higher fibre production.