Effect of Various Factors on the Development of Leaf Spot Disease in Mulberry

Abstract

Effect of various factors such as temperature, relative humidity, balanced fertilizer and plant spacing on the development of leaf spot disease in mulberry caused by Cercospora moricola was studied. High disease development was recorded in the month of August and September when outdoor temperature and relative humidity were 25-30 ºC and above 80%, respectively. Application of balanced fertilizer and plant spacing on this disease development was also studied and showed a distinct effect on severity of this disease. A balanced dose application of NPK fertilizer decreased disease severity to 6-8%. Balanced fertilizer application in the soil resulted lower infection by leaf pathogen in comparison with imbalanced fertilizer application in the soil. Disease development was also found to be high at close plant spacing (60 × 60) cm than distance spacing (90 × 90) cm.

Morpho-cultural, pathological and molecular variability in Phloeospora maculans causing leaf spot of mulberry (Morus species) in India

“…Signi cant variation was recorded in morphological and cultural characteristics viz., colony texture, margins and colour, colour change in media, colony diameter, growth rate and spore characteristics in different isolates of P. maculans. Variations in cultural characteristics have also been observed in isolates of Cercospora kikuchii [27] Cercospora canesens [29], Cercospora beticola and P. paramaculans [30] and P. salmali [31,32] In order to discern the variability at molecular level, studies on pathogen were conducted for the rst time using ISSR markers. Out of 15 ISSR primers, ve polymorphic ISSR primers used in present study revealed a high level of polymorphism in different isolates of P. maculans in Kashmir, which indicated that these markers are suitable for studying the genetic diversity in mulberry leaf spot pathogen.…”