Hudda Disease in Rice: Causes, Symptoms and the Zinc Sulphate Fix
Rice growers across Punjab and Sindh often refer to zinc deficiency in paddy fields as 'Hudda' disease — a local term for the stunted, bronze-tipped seedlings that appear roughly two to three weeks after transplanting in zinc-deficient, waterlogged soils.
The symptoms are distinctive: leaves develop rusty brown or bronze streaking starting from the midrib, plant height stays noticeably shorter than healthy patches nearby, and tillering slows down sharply. Left uncorrected, affected patches can suffer significant yield loss at harvest.
Zinc becomes less available to rice roots in flooded, alkaline, and calcareous soils — exactly the conditions common in much of Pakistan's rice belt — which is why Hudda symptoms tend to reappear in the same low-lying or poorly drained fields season after season.
The standard fix is a soil application of zinc sulphate, such as Commander (33% Zn) or Agro Gold (21% Zn), broadcast and incorporated before puddling or applied shortly after transplanting. Fields with a known history of Hudda benefit from planning a zinc application into every season's nursery and land preparation routine rather than waiting for symptoms to reappear.
A foliar spray of dissolved zinc sulphate can green up an already-affected crop faster than a soil application alone, but it works best as a rescue treatment alongside — not instead of — a proper soil-applied zinc program for the following season.