Alternaria blight-Mustard

• This is a fungal disease.

• Alternaria blight causes 32-57 % of average yield loss.

Etiology:
Pathogen: Alternaria helianthi

• The fungus produces cylindrical conidiophores, which are pale grey-

yellow colored, straight or curved, geniculate, simple or branched, septate
and bear single conidium.

• Conidia are cylindrical to long ellipsoid, straight or slightly curved, pale

grey-yellow to pale brown, 1 to 11 septate with transverse and
occasionally longitudnal septa measuring about 40-110×13-28µ.

• Conidia are not formed in chains.

 Alternaria blight-Mustard

Symptoms:

• The disease attacks on the lower leaves as small circular

brown necrotic spots which slowly increase in size.

• Many concentric spots coalesce to cover large patches

showing blightening and defoliation in severe cases.

• Circular to linear, dark brown lesions also develop on stems

and pods, which are elongated at later stage.

• Infected pods produce small, discolored and shriveled

seeds.
 Alternaria blight-Mustard
Favorable condition:
• Rainy weather.
• Cool winter climate.
• Late sown crop.
• Moist (more than 70% relative humidity) coupled
with warm weather (12-25°C) and intermittent rains
favours disease development.

Disease cycle:
• Conidia are spread by wind or rain.
• They fall on leaves and also on pods.
• The infected pods contain infected seeds and
conidia remains in stubbles.
• Infected seeds give rise to seedlings which contains
the pathogen.
Disease Cycle
 Alternaria blight-Mustard
Management:
• Healthy seeds to be used for sowing.
• Affected plant portions should be collected and burnt.
• Deep ploughing, timely weeding and maintenance of optimum plant
population.
• Spraying soil isolates of Trichoderma viride at 45 and 75 days after sowing.
• Spraying Mancozeb @ 0.2 Kg in 100 L of water per hectare as soon
symptoms appears.
 White rust-Mustard
Etiology:
Pathogen: Albugo candida

• Mycelium of fungus is intercellular forming knob like haustoria in the host cells
• Hyphae forms beneath the epidermis and it gives rise to the sori.
• Sporangiophores arise from the sori are free from each other laterally and are very thick towards the base.
• Sporangia are formed in basipetal succession in chains are hyaline, and spherical and produces zoospores.
• Oogonia and anthredia are formed from intercellular mycelium in intercellular spaces.
• Oospores are formed from their fertilization in hosts and their germination takes place by formation of
zoospores.

Disease Cycle:
• Pathogen perpetuates through the oospores lying in soil or diseased debris.
• Weed hosts serve as primary source of inoculum.
• Secondary spread of pathogen is by sporangia and zoospores.

Predisposing factors:
• The sporangia germinates at an optimum temperature of 10°C .
• RH should be more than 65% with less temperature of 15°C.
• Crops sown late are more disease prone.
 White rust-Mustard

Symptoms:

• All aerials parts of the plant are attacked.

• White or creamy yellow pustules of various shape and size appears on the surface of the
leaves, mainly on the lower surface.

• In severe infection the leaves become thick, fleshy, inrolled and their size becomes
reduced.

• If young stems and inflorescence are infected the fungus becomes systemic inside tissues
and produces deformities like swelling and distortion of the floral parts.
 White rust-Mustard

Management:
• Destruction of weeds in and around the fields should be done.
• Crop rotation.
• Rotation with non-cruciferous crops.
• Seed dressing with Metalaxyl @6g/kg seed followed by a single.
• Spray with Metalaxyl + Mancozeb (Ridomil gold)@0.2%
 Downy mildew-Mustard
• Downy mildews are primarily foliage blights. They attack and spread
rapidly in young, tender green leaf, twig, and fruit tissues.

• They develop and are severe when a film of water is present on the
plant tissues and the relative humidity in the air is high during cool or
warm, but not, periods. Downy mildews can severe losses in short
periods of time.

Etiology:
Pathogen: Peronospora parasitica

• Peronospora is an obligate parasite , mycelium is intercellular with

large finger shaped haustoria.
• Numerous branched sporangiophores emerge through the stomata on
Peronospora parasitica
undersurface of leaves.
• Sporangiophores are 6-8 times dichotomously branched at the tip, each
tip producing one sporangium.
• Spherical, hyaline oogonium is fertilized by single anthredium and
produces pale yellow coloured globose oospores.00
 Downy mildew-Mustard

Symptoms:

• Grayish white irregular necrotic patches develop on the lower surface of

the leaves.

• The upper surface of the leaves yellow spot is there corresponding to

necrotic spot on lower surface.

• Later under favourable conditions brownish white fungal may also be

seen on the spots.

• The most pronounced symptom is the infection of inflorescence causing

hypertrophy of peduncle.

• The affected inflorescence does not produce any siliqua or seed.

 Downy mildew-Mustard
Disease cycle:

• Sporangia lands on suitable host germinates, produces appressoria and enters into
the host epidermis.

• The hyphae grows intercellularly forming haustoria.

• They produce sporangiophore bearing sporangia (asexual cycle)and also

anthredium and oogonium which fertilizes to give the oospores (sexual cycle).

• Pathogen survives in the form of oospores. They occur on the surface and in the
hypodermis of seed coat and these infected seeds produce seedlings with downey
mildew symptoms.

• Wild hosts also serve as a source of primary inoculum.

• Secondary spread caused by sporangia.

Predisposing factors:

• Temperature in the range of 10-20°C and RH more than 90% favours disease
development.
 Downy mildew-Mustard
Management:

• Collect and destroy infected plant debris.

• Rotation with non-cruciferous crops.

• Seed dressing with Metalaxyl (Apron 35SD)@6g/kg seed.

• Single spray with Metalaxyl + Mancozeb (Ridomil gold)@0.2%.

 Sclerotinia stem rot-Mustard
Etiology:

Pathogen: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

• Hyaline multicellular hyphae.

• Sclerotium germination occurs in myceliogenic -hyphae and carpogenic –apothecia.
• Myceliogenic germination of sclerotia- root rot, stem rot and wilting.
• The apothecium is a flat or cup-shaped structure that produces sexual spores of
S.sclerotiorum.
• Asexual – hyphae and sclerotia Sexual–ascospore.
 Sclerotinia stem rot-Mustard

Symptoms:

• Stems develop water soaked spots near to crown region which later may
be covered with cottony white mycelium.

• As disease progresses the affected portions of stem develops a bleached

appearance at the internodes and eventually the tissues shreds.

• Premature ripening and shredding of stem , wilting, and drying.

• In later stage black sclerotial bodies are also seen on infected plants.
 Sclerotinia stem rot-Mustard
Disease cycle:

Primary infection: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum survive in soil.

Secondary infection: By irrigation water.

Favorable conditions:

• High humidity (90-95%) and average temperature (18-25°C) along with wind current favours the disease
development.

Management:
• Use crop rotation; do not plant highly susceptible crops more than once in four years, including dry edible
beans, sunflowers, mustard and canola.
• Use at least a five year rotation for severely infested fields.
• Avoid planting next to a field that had severe Sclerotinia in the past four or five years.
• Control broad-leaved weeds.
• Plant thoroughly cleaned seed. Avoid dense stands of canola.