Diseases of vegetables
bean rust
• caused by Uromyces appendiculatus
• under prolonged periods of warm, moist
weather.
Symptoms
• Symptoms develop on leaves and pods as
pustules of red-brown powdery spores
(urediniospores) which rupture the epidermis.
• They are often surrounded by a yellow halo.
• Severely infected leaves turn chlorotic, dry, and
decline.
• Later, black to brown teliospores form within
pustules and enable the pathogen to survive
between crop cycles.
Uredospores
Teliospores
Management
• Rotate bean with non-host crops.
• Plow under infected crop residues.
• Eliminate volunteer plants.
• Select planting dates and schedule irrigation to
avoid long periods of leaf wetness when
temperatures are warm.
• Avoid over application of nitrogen and ensure
adequate potassium fertilization.
• Plant resistant cultivars.
• Chlorothalonil, sulfur application
Anthracnose in beans
• caused by the fungus Colletotrichum
lindemuthianum.
• It can cause disease at all stages of plant
growth, from seedlings to growing pods.
1&2: Dark brown to black sunken lesions on the cotyledons and stems
3: Linear, dark brick-red to black lesions on the leaf veins
4: Distinct circular, reddish brown lesions on pods
5: Infected seeds have brown to black blemishes and sunken lesions
Management
• Use certified disease-free seed, or seed that has been
hot-water soaked or fungicide treated.
• Use of a three-year crop rotation is recommended.
• Keep the fields weed free for good air circulation during
the season.
• Plow under bean refuse immediately after harvest as the
fungus survives in debris as well.
• Host resistance
black rot in cabbage
(Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris)
Black rot of cabbage (Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris):symptom from
infection of wounded tissue.
Black rot of cabbage (Xanthomonas campestris pv.
campestris):
classic V-shaped symptom from infection of hydathode.
Blackened veins can be seen in stems and leaf petioles
by cutting crosswise.
Black rot vascular discoloration throughout heart.
Black rot vascular discoloration at core of stored cabbage.
Management
• An integrated, comprehensive program is needed to
manage black rot successfully:
• Use resistant varieties.
• Certified seeds
• Hot water treatment,
• Provide seedlings with optimal conditions of water, fertility,
temperature, and light for growth.
• Inspect seedlings routinely. If symptoms are found early,
destroy seedlings in that area.
• Incorporate leftover plants by plowing crop rotation
• fields with good drainage and use raised beds.
• Control insects and weeds, especially cruciferous
weeds.
• Do not irrigate early in the day when dew is present or so
late in the day that foliage remains wet overnight.
• Avoid physical damages at transplanting
Downy mildew of cucumber
• Pseudoperonospora cubensis
Symptoms:
Angular, yellowish spots on leaves which turn brown
and shrivel.
A grayish mass of spores form on the underside of
leaves.
Dropping of small fruits and flowers
Leaf becomes brownish, distorted
Chlorotic, angular lesions typical of downy mildew on upper
surface of cucumber leaves.
Lower surface of cucumber leaf reveals black sporulation.
Control
• Destroy host plants and wild cucurbits.
• Use a recommended fungicide.
Spraying of Mancozeb (0.2%) or
Propineb (0.2%), Chlorothalonil (0.2%)
Powdery mildew of cucurbits
• Erysiphe cichoracearum
•White, powdery like patches on both sides of the
leaf
•Leaves turn yellow and later brown
•Cup shape appearance of leaf
•Dropping of small fruits and flowers
powdery like patches
Management
Spraying of Bitertanol or Carbendazim or
Chlorothalonil 2-3 times at fortnightly
intervals
Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV)
• New growth is cupped downward,
• leaves are severely mottled with
alternating light green and dark green
patches.
• Plants are stunted,
• fruits are covered with bumpy protrusions.
• Severely affected cucumber fruit may be
almost entirely white.
Management principles
• The virus is readily transferred by aphids
and survives on a wide variety of plants.
Varietal resistance is the primary
management tool.
Bacterial soft rot in vegetables
• Mainly cause by Erwinia carotovora pv carotovora
• Bacteria produce cell wall degrading enzymes causing
softening and rotting of tissues
• initially appear as water-soaked lesions
• Later whole affected area get rotten
• “mushy” cream coloured and slimy
• Bacterial cells and cell debris ooze out from the
broken tissues
• Often have a bad smell “ foul smell”
• An entire vegetable may become converted into
a watery, decayed mass within 3-5 days!
• often accompanied by secondary invaders
Anthracnose in chilli
• Mainly by: Colletotrichum capsici and
C. gloeosporiodes
• Cause fruit rot & die-back
• Mainly affect ripened (red) fruits
• Small, black, circular spot on the peel
• Grow elliptically
• Becomes black greenish or dirty grey
• Acervuli arranged in a concentric pattern
• Pods become wrinkled
• Entire pod may turn brown
Management
– Disease free seeds
– Seed treatment (Captan, Thiram)
– Field sanitation, Deep ploughing
– Crop rotation
– Nursery bed sterilization
– Where the disease is severe, preventive
spraying should commence at flowering
and continue at 7-10 day intervals
Chlorothalonil, Thiphanate-methyl, Mancozeb
Leaf curl disease complex
• Chilli mosaic viruses – tobacco, cucumber
and potato
• Vectors: white flies, aphids and mites
Control:
Use virus-free seed.
Control vectors with insecticides
Brinjal Little leaf disease
• Caused by phytoplasma
• Severe damage when seedlings infected
• No yield can be expected
symptoms
• Small, narrow emerging leaves
• Short petioles, short internodes
• No flowering
• Green colour flowers – phyllody
• No fruits/pods
Management
• Removal and destruction of infected plants
• Use of resistant varieties
• Vector control
• Root dip in 1000 ppm tetracycline
Name Causal agent symptoms nature of control notes
of the damage
disease
Rice Magnaporthe diamond shaped kill leaves, cultural
blast oryzae lesions panicles genetic
collar blast, neck fall over, chemical
blast, panicle blast blanking
Rice Rhizoctonia small, oval water- blanking, sanitation, confirmed by
sheath solani soaked lesions leaf death, opt. seed the presence
blight near water line, reduce rate, of sclerotia
irregular lesions on milling irrigation
leaves, sheaths quality mgt.
