Causal Agent: – Fusarium spp., Pythium spp., Rhizoctonia spp., and Sclerotium spp.

Disease symptoms: –

1. Pre-emergence Damping- off

• The seedling dies before emerging from the soil level.
• Seeds and seedlings get rotten.

2. Post-emergence Damping- off

• The seedling dies after emerging from the soil level.
• Infection appears first at the plant’s base or root.
• Moisture and soft rot are visible in tissues from infected areas.
• The infected area shrinks and the plant collapses when the damage is severe.
• Before the plant dies, the leaves become withered.
• Plants have also been found dead in scatted places.

Disease control: –

• Nurseries should be established in well-drained areas and areas where Solanaceae crops such as tomatoes, brinjals, and chillies are not grown in previous seasons.
• Crop rotation needed with non-host crops.
• Sterilization of nursery beds (e.g., Burning, solarization).
• Avoid sowing too many seeds in the nursery (3m*1m size bed-40g seeds are recommended).
• The diseased plants should be removed along with soil and destroyed

Causal Agent: – Colletotrichum spp

Disease symptoms: –

• Symptoms can appear in plant leaves, stem and pods.
• Discoloration of flower stalk, flower buds and shoots.
• Flowers will fall.
• Young pods will fall due to occurring of large number of spots on the pods.
• Small, round and sunken lesions appear on the pod’s surface and spread along its length.
• On ripe pods, brown color, circular spots can be seen.
• With time small, blackish color spores can be observed as a concentric ring on these lesions.
• Then ripen pods get rotten.
• When the disease is severe, die back begin at the tip and spread down wards (Die back during the vegetative growth phase).
• When the disease is severe, the plants wither and die after spreading the disease across the entire plant.

Disease control: –

• Cultivating resistant varieties.
• Healthy seeds should be used for cultivation.
• Field sanitation (destroy crop residues).
• Disease infected plant parts should be removed from the field.
• Crop rotation with non-host plants in every 2-3 years’ time.
• Improve drainage in the field.
• Maintain recommended spacing among plants.
• Apply Trichoderma spp. and Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Causal Agent: – Ralstonia solanacearum

Disease symptoms: –

• Can be seen as a single or multiple withered plant in a zone.
• Immature leaves wither during the hottest part of the day.
• Then it exhibits an immediate permanent wilting.
• Wilted plants become dead few days after shredding the leaves.
• The disease is easily diagnosed by suspending a clean cut section of disease stem in clear water. Bacterial ooze can be seen coming out from the cut surface.

Disease control: –

• Crop rotation should be done with non-host crop in the fields.
• Use of wilt resistant varieties
• All infected roots and host weeds should be removed and destroyed
• Infected plants should be removed and destroyed along with the surrounding soil
• Water should not be supplied from infected fields to healthy fields
• Improve drainage.

• Solanaceae crops are highly susceptible (Chili, Capsicum, Tomato, Brinjal, Potato).
• Disease can be observed in all stages of the crop.

Vector: white fly                   

Disease symptoms: –

• Yellowing of leaves and veins become clearly visible.
• Dwarfing of plants due to shortening of internode length and formation of excessive number of shoots.
• Upward curling of leaves due to reduced leaf size.
• The pods of infected plants are small.

Disease control: –

• Timely cultivation.
• Established wind barriers (ex. Maize).
• Destroy alternative host plants (ex. Weeds).

Causal agent: – Cercospora capsici.

Disease symptoms: –

• During the initial stage of infection, brownish circular spots with light-gray centers and yellow color margins appear on leaves (‘Frog –eye’ appearance).
• At latter stages of infection, leaves turn yellow and drop.
• Infected leaves will fall after become wilted and rolled.
• Heavy leaf shedding can occur under high Rh conditions.
• Brown color lesions may appear on the leaf stalks, pods or branches on occasion.
• The lower mature leaves are usually the first to become infected.
• When the damage is severe, upper leaves are also become infected.
• Favorable conditions for infection are infected crop residues, warm temperatures around 20oC-25oC, and higher relative humidity.

Disease control: –

• Collect all the infected leaves and destroyed (Field sanitation)
• To avoid high Rh, use recommended spacing and facilitate good drainage.
• Apply recommended amount of organic fertilizers

Causal agent: –

Disease symptoms: –

• The first sign is pale yellow leaf spots on upper leaf surface.
• Then white powdery spots will form on lower leaf surfaces, and quickly expand into large blotches.
• Gradually leaves become yellow and fall off.

Disease control: –

• Field sanitation.
• Use of resistant varieties
• Provide good air movement around plants through proper spacing and weed control.
• Apply Trichoderma spp.

Causal agent: – Choanephora spp

Disease symptoms: –

• Plants from seedling to early flowering stage are susceptible.
• Symptoms first appear on the flowers, buds, and apical parts of the plants.
• Infected areas are brown or black in color. The fungus spreads quickly downwards, and the upper parts die.
• They also show wet rot.
• The spore- producing structures are visible to the naked eye.
• As a result, the infected areas appear grayish silver.
• Fruit infection is observed predominantly around calyx.
• This infection can occur even without any insect or mechanical damages. But, causal agents can easily enter through these wounds and make the infection.

Disease control: –

• The recommended spacing should be maintained.
• Remove and destroy diseased shoots as soon as symptoms appear.