Influence of epidemiological parameters on the development and spread of leaf spot and dry fruit rot (Coniella granati) of pomegranate

Abstract

Pomegranates are susceptible to leaf spot and dry fruit rot caused by Coniella granati (Sacc.) Petrak and Sydow and the disease is assuming importance in Himachal Pradesh due to its severity. This fungus requires a good rainfall, high humidity around 80 per cent and a temperature range of 22-32ÚC for its initial spread and development. Under optimum conditions, C. granati can cause complete rotting of the fruits.To study the role of epidemiological factors on the disease development of leaf spot and dry fruit rot of pomegranate, cultivar 'Kandhari Kabuli' was selected. The data on disease severity on leaves and fruits was recorded at weekly interval from June to August at the farm of Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan during 2012 and 2013 cropping season. The data on weather parameters (i.e. temperature, relative humidity and rainfall) was taken from

Pest categorisation of Coniella granati

“…Symptoms may also appear during the period of fruit development (half grown or larger) and, reaching a peak mid‐to late summer favoured by an extended period of warm and foggy weather (Sharma and Tegta, 2011; Kumari and Ram, 2015). As observed in India, the development of C. granati is indeed favoured not only by high relative humidity of around 70–80% (Kumari and Ram, 2015; Kumari, 2017), but also by rainfall, since a higher disease severity on both leaves and fruits of pomegranate was associated with 46.65 mm cumulative rainfall (Kumari and Ram, 2015). As demonstrated in vitro , temperature values ranging from 25°C to 30°C are optimal for both conidial germination and mycelial growth of C. granati (Michailides et al, 2010; Thomidis, 2015).…”