Disease of Castor and Tobbaco

Pawan K Amrate
Scientist – Plant Pathology
J. N. Krishi vishwa vidhyalaya , Jabalpur
 Major disease of Castor
• Seedling blight - Phytophthora parasitica
• Rust – Melampsora ricini
• Leaf blight- Alternaria ricini
• Brown leaf spot - Cercospora ricinella
• Powdery mildew - Leveillula taurica
• Stem rot - Macrophomina phaseolina
• Bacterial leaf spot - Xanthomonas campestris pv.
Ricinicola
• Wilt - Fusarium oxysporum
 Seedling blight/ Phytophthora blight
• Symptoms
• Initially, disease appears as circular, dull
green patch on both the surface of the
cotyledon leaves.
• This patches later spreads and causes
rotting.
• The infection moves to stem and causes
withering and death of seedling due to
the destruction of growing point or by
the collapse of stem.
• In mature plants, the infection initially
appears on the young leaves and spreads
to petiole and stem causing black
discoloration and severe defoliation.
Etiology
• Disease is caused by Phytophthora
parasitica
• The pathogen produces non-septate
(coenocytic hyphae) and hyaline mycelium.
• Sporangiophores emerge through the
stomata on the lower surface singly or in
groups.
• They are unbranched and bear single
celled, hyaline, round or oval sporangia at
the tip singly.
• The sporangia germinate to produce
abundant zoospores.
• The fungus also produces oospores and
chlamydospores in adverse seasons.
Disease cycle
• Disease cycle The pathogen remains in the soil as chlamydospores
and oospores which act as primary source of infection.
• The fungus also survives on other hosts like potato, tomato,
brinjal, sesamum etc.
• The secondary spread takes place through wind borne sporangia.
Management
• Remove and destroy infected plant residues.
• Avoid low-lying and ill drained fields for sowing.
• Treat the seeds with thiram or captan at 4g/kg.
• To reduce down the inoculum of pathogen crop ration with non
host crop may be effective
• Apply foliar application of metalaxyl + mancozeb @ 0.2 %
fungicides to prevent further infection in field.
 Major disease of Tobbaco
• Damping off - Pythium aphanidermatum
• Black shank - Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae
• Black root rot - Thielaviopsis basicola
• Frog eye spot - Cercospora nicotianae
• Powdery mildew - Erysiphe cichoracearum var.
nicotianae
• Anthracnose -Colletotrichum tabacum
• Wild fire - Pseudomonas tabaci
• Tobacco mosaic - Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)
• Leaf curl - Tobacco leaf curl virus (TLCV)
 Black root rot - Thielaviopsis basicola
• Symptoms
• Affected tobacco crops typically show an uneven growth pattern, caused by
varying degrees of stunting.
• Root systems of infected plants are characteristically reduced and stubby,
with dark tips.
• On susceptible hosts, the abundant sporulation can enhance the dark or black
appearance of the lesion and gives the disease its common name, black root
rot
• Plants infected with black root rot wilt rapidly during the hottest part of the
day and recover during the evening hours. This wilting and drooping of the
leaves is especially noticeable on hot, sunny days following a rainy period.
• Pathogen - Thielaviopsis basicola
• Thielaviopsis basicola is a soilborne
fungus in the phylum Ascomycota
• producing two types of conidia,
endoconidia and aleuriospores.
• Endoconidia (also called phialospores) Phialospores
are single-celled hyaline spores with
slightly rounded ends that are produced
within elongate terminal phialides.
• Aleuriospores are darkly pigmented,
cylindrical spores that contain 2 to 8 cells
and measure 24 to 55 µm in length, with
the terminal cell having a rounded apex .
Aleuriospores
Disease cycle
• Thielaviopsis basicola is a soilborne fungus
• This particular disease has a large host range, affecting woody
ornamentals, herbaceous ornamentals, agronomic crops, and
even vegetable crops.
Management:-
• Crop Rotation is effective as causal fungus survives in the soil for
several years. Crops suggested for rotation with tobacco include
small grains, grasses etc.
• Resistant varieties should be planted if black root rot is
considered a threat.
• Maintain soil pH in the 6.1 to 6.5 range for burley and 5.6 to 6.0
for dark tobacco. A soil test should be taken to determine the
need for lime and fertilizer.
 Black shank - Phytophthora parasitica var.
nicotianae

• Symptoms
• Seedlings in the nursery show black discolor of the stem
near the soil level and blackening of roots, leading the
wet rot in humid condition and seedling blight in dry
weather with withering and drying of tips.
• The pathogen also spreads to the leaves and causes
blighting and drying of the bottom leaves.
• In the transplanted crop, the disease appears as minute
black spot on the stem, spreads along the stem to
produce irregular black patches and often girdling occurs.
• The upward movement leads to development of necrotic
patches on the stems. The infected tissues shrink, leaving
a depression and in advanced condition the stem shrivels
and plant wilts. When the affected stem is split open, the
pith region is found to be dried and showed black
discoloration.
Pathogen
- Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae

• The fungus produces hyaline and non-

septate mycelium.
• The sporangia, which are hyaline, thin
walled, ovate or pyriform with papillae,
develop on the sporangiophores in a
sympodial fashion. sporangia
• Sporangia germinate to release zoospores
which are usually kidney shaped, biciliate
and measure 11-13 x 8-9m. The fungus also
produces globoose and thick walled
chlamydospores. Oospores are thick walled,
globose, smooth and light yellow coloured.
Disease cycle
• The fungus lives as a saprophyte on organic wastes
and infected crop residues in soil.
• The fungus is also present in the soil as dormant
mycelium, oospores and chlamydospores for more
than 2 years.
• The primary infection is by means of oospores and
chlamydospores in the soil.
• Secondary spread is by wind-borne sporangia. The
pathogen in the soil spreads through irrigation water,
transport of soil, farm implements and animals.
 Management
• Provide adequate drainage in the nursery.
• Drench the nursery beds with 1 per cent Bordeaux mixture or
0.2 per cent Copper oxychloride, two days before sowing. •
• Spray the beds two weeks after sowing with 0.2 per cent
Metalaxyl or 0.2 per cent Copper oxychloride or 1 per cent
Boreaux mixture and repeat after 10 days.
• Select healthy, disease free seedlings for transplanting.
• Remove and destroy the affected plants in the field.
• Soil drenchaging s and spray at 30 days after sowing
Metalaxyl 8% + Mancozeb64 %WP @ 0.2% in 1000 litre water.
• Spray Mancozeb 2 kg or Copper oxychloride 1 kg or Ziram 1
lit/ha. Spot drench with 0.4 per cent Bordeaux mixture or 0.2
per cent Copper oxychloride.
 Tobacco mosaic - Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)
• Symptoms
• The disease begins as light discoloration
along the veins of the youngest leaves.
Soon the leaves develop a characteristic
light and dark green pattern, the dark
green areas associated more with the
veins, turning into irregular blisters.
• The early infected plants in the season
are usually stunted with small,
chlorotic, mottled and curled leaves.
• In severe infections, the leaves are
narrowed, puckered, thin and
malformed beyond recognition, Later,
dark brown necrotic spots develop
under hot weather and this symptom is
called “Mosaic burn” or “Mosaic
scorching”.
Pathogen
• The disease is caused by Tobacco mosaic
tobamovirus.
• It is single stranded RNA virus
• It is a rigid rod measuring 300 X 150-180 nm
with a central hollow tube of about 4nm
diameter with ssRNA as its genome.
• Disease cycle
• The virus spreads most rapidly by contact wounds, sap and
farm implements and operators.
• The virus remains viable in the plant debris in the soil as
the source of inoculum as the longevity of the virus is very
high.
• The virus has a wide host range, affecting nearly 50 plant
species belonging to nine different families.
• The virus is not seed-transmitted in tobacco but tomato
seeds transmit the virus.
• No insect vector known to transmit the virus.
Management
• Remove and destroy infected plants.
• Keep the field free of weeds which harbour the virus.
• Wash hands with soap and running water before or after
handling the plants or after weeding.
• Prohibit smoking, chewing and snuffing during field operations.
• Spray the nursery and main field with botanical leaf extracts of
Bougainvillea or Basella alba at 1 litre of extract in 150 litres of
water, two to three times at weekly intervals.
• Adopt crop rotation by growing non-host plants for two
seasons.
• Grow resistant varieties like TMV RR2, TMV RR 2a and TMV RR3.