Brinjal

Disease Management

Introduction Important Diseases Bacterial wilt Damping off Leaf spot Little leaf of Brinjal Phomopsis blight Sclerotina blight

Introduction

Diseases in Brinjal

Stage	Common name	Causal organism
	Fungal Diseases
Nursery	Damping-off	Pythium spp., Phytophthora spp.
Nursery -Main field	Leaf spot	Alternaria melongenae
Nursery -Main field	Leaf spot	Cercospora melongenae Welles
Main field	Phomopsis blight	Phomopsis vexan (Sacc & Syd.)
Main field	Leaf blight	Sclerotina sclerotorium (Lib.)
	Bacterial Disease
Main field	Bacterial blight	Pseudomonas solanacearum var asiaticum
	MLOs
Main field	Little leaf	Mycoplasma-like organism

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Source of resistance/tolerance to important insects-pests and diseases

Insect- pests / Diseases		Sources of resistance/tolerance
Insect- pests / Diseases		Wild species	Brinjal cultivars
Fruit and shoot borer.	Leucinodes orbonalis	S. incanum S. integrifolium S. sisymbriifolium S. xanthocarpum	Pussa Purple Cluster, AM-62, BB-26, Pusa Purple Long, Pusa Purple Round, H-4, Pusa Kranti, SM 17-4, Aushey, Arka Shirish
Epilachna beetle	Epilachna vigintiocto-punctata	S. torvum	KT-4, K 202-9
Fusarium wilt	Fusarium solani	S.indicum, S. incanum, S. integrifolium	Florida Market
Verticillium wilt	Verticillium dahliae	S. torvum S. sisymbriifolium	Florida Market,
Phomopsis blight	Phomopsis vexans	S. gilo S. integrifolium S. macrocarpon S. sisymbriifolium	Florida Beauty, Muktakeshi,
Bacterial wilt	Pseudomonas solanacearum	S. integrifolium S. torvum S. xanthocarpum S. nigrum	Pusa Bhairav, SM 6, K 202-9, Annamalai, Pant Samrat Black Beauty, Banaras Giant, Pusa Purple Cluster, Pusa Kranti, Arka Sheel, Arka Shirish, Arka Kusumakar, Pant Rituraj, Arka Keshav, T-3, SM-6, BB 7.

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Bacterial Wilt

The disease is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas solanacearum var asiaticum.
This disease is considered a dreaded disease of potato in many areas of the country. However, it is also a serious disease in all brinjal growing areas.

Symptom

The characteristic symptoms of the disease are stunting, yellowing of the foliage, wilting and finally collapse of the entire plant.
Browning is often visible form the surface of the infested stems as dark patches or streaks.

Factors responsible for disease

The disease is generally severe in acidic soils as well as in alkaline soils.
Organic matter promotes activity of the bacteria while inorganic fertilizers decrease their activity.
The pathogen can survive through soil and solanaceous cultivated or weed hosts. Soil is the most important source of primary inoculum.

Management

Since the disease is soil borne, proper rotation helps in its control.
No solanaceous crops should be included in any rotation.
A rotation with inclusion of maize, soybean, wheat, rice, gingelly and green manuring has been found effective in reducing the disease in infested soil.
Application of 10-15 per cent higher dosages of nitrogen is reported to suppress the disease.

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Damping Off

Damping off is a seedling disease common to most the vegetables grown for transplanting or even when direct seeded.
The disease is responsible for poor germination and stand of seedlings in nursery beds and often carries the pathogen to the fields where transplanting is done.

Causal organism

The disease is caused by Pythium, Phytophthora, Thielavia, Phoma, Glomerella, Fusarium, Botrytis, Sclerotinia, Sclerotium and Ozonium.
Of these fungi Pythium species are more common than others.

Symptom

Damping off of brinjal occurs in two phases:
(I) Pre-emergence damping off and (ii) Post-emergence damping off.

Pre-emergence damping off:

In this phase of disease, the young seedlings are killed before they emerge through the soil surface.
In fact, the seeds may rot or the seedlings may be killed before the hypocotyl has broken the seed coat.
The radicle and the plumule, when they come out of the seed, undergo complete rotting.
Since this happens under the soil surface, the disease is often not recognised at all by the farmer, who attributes the failure of emergence to poor quality of the seed.

Post emergence damping off

The post-emergence mortality of seedlings is generally very conspicuous.
This phase of the disease is characterised by the toppling over of infected seedlings any time after they emerge from the soil until the stem has hardened sufficiently to resist invasion.
Infection usually occurs through the roots or at the ground level.
The infected tissue appears soft, stained and water soaked.
As the disease advances, the stem become constricted at the base and the plant collapse.
Seedlings that are apparently healthy one day may have collapsed by the following morning.
Generally, the cotyledons and leaves wilt slightly before the seedlings are prostrated, although sometimes they remain green and turgid until collapse occurs.
In fields and nurseries the disease usually radiates from initial infection points, causing large spots or areas in which nearly all the seedlings are killed.

Factors responsible for disease

High soil moisture coupled with poor drainage and relatively high temperatures favour rapid development of damping-off.
Soil type does not affect much the occurrence of damping off. But the disease is most severe in ill-aerated, ill-drained soils. Such conditions are common in heavy and compact soils.
Loose soils, having a good proportion of sand, exhibit less loss from damping off.

Management

Cultural practices such as thin sowing, use of light soil, optimum of irrigation of nursery beds, use of well decomposed manure eliminate the disease.
Seed treatment with Carbendazim @ 2 g per kg followed by Trichoderma viride @ 4 g per kg of seed 24 hours prior to sowing gives adequate control.
If the disease is noticed in nursery, drench the soil with 0.1 per cent copper oxy chloride (10g/litre) in the initial stage itself.

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Leaf Spot

Several leaf spots occur commonly in brinjal. The major ones are (I) Alternaria leaf spot and (ii) Cercospora leaf spot.

Alternaria leaf spot: Alternaria melongenae

The spots are brown and irregular in shape. Concentric rings are present in them. Several spots may coalesce to form larger necrotic patches
Fruits are also affected. Large, necrotic sunken spots develop on the fruit which turns yellow and drops.

Cercospora leaf spot: Cercospora melongenae

These produces large, irregular or circular brown or grey spots on leaves and also causes fruit rot.
The central grey portion shows the presence of fungal fruiting bodies as black dots.
The disease is primarily soil borne and seed borne when fruit rot occurs.

Diseased crop debris in soil is the main source of primary inoculum.

Management

Seed treatment with Carbendazim @ 2 g per kg followed by Trichoderma viridae @ 4 g per kg of seed 24 hours prior to sowing gives adequate control.
Spraying Mancozeb 75 % WP @ 3 g per litre of water to the point of run-off effectively controls the disease.

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Little Leaf of Brinjal

This disease of brinjal was reported from India in 1938 and as far as known it occurs only in India and Sri Lanka.
In almost all the states of the country it has become a serious problem facing brinjal cultivation.
The yield loss is hundred per cent in the diseased plants.

Causal organism

Little leaf was first considered a disease caused by a virus.
In 1969 it was attributed to a mycoplasma-like organism, closely related to aster-yellows and curly top.
It is a sap transmissible disease.
The organism has been transmitted to Datura, tomato and tobacco.
It occurs in nature on Datura fastuosa and Vinca rosea.
Natural transmission is through a vector, Cestius phycytis (Eutettix phycytis) while Empoasca devastans is a less effective vector.
Perennation of the organism is through its weed hosts.

Symptom

The characteristic symptom is the smallness of the leaves.
The petioles are so short and the leaves appear to be sticking to be stem.
Such leaves are narrow, soft, smooth and yellow.
Newly formed leaves are much more shorter
The internodes of the stem are also shortened.
Axillary buds get enlarged but their petioles and leaves remain shortened.
This gives the plant a bushy appearance.
Mostly, there is no flowering but if flowers are formed they remain green.
Fruiting is rare.

Management

The severity of the disease can be reduced by destruction of affected plants and spraying of insecticides.
New crop should be planted only when diseased plants in the field and its neighbourhood have been removed.

Methyldemeton 25 EC	2 ml / litre
Dimethoate 30 EC	2 ml / litre
Malathion 50 EC	2 ml / litre

has been recommended for vector control.

Although mycoplasmas are reported to be suppressed by tetracyclines field application of this method has not yet been recommended.
Varietal resistance has not been systematically studied.
Cultivars such as Pusa Purple Cluster, Arka Sheel, Aushy, Manjari Gota and Banaras Giant show moderate resistance to resistance in the field.
Other cultivars found tolerant to the disease are Black Beauty, Brinjal Round and Surati.

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Phomopsis Blight

The disease is caused by the fungus Phomopsis vexan (Sacc. & Syd.).
The disease is common in brinjal. The infection starts with foliage blight, but the most destructive phase of the disease is the fruit rot.

Symptom

The disease is present in one or other form from the seedling stage to fruit maturity.
In the seedbeds, it appears as damping off.
After transplanting, the leaves coming in contact with soil may get infected and show circular, grey to brown spots with light colored centre.
The affected leaves turn yellow and dry.
Sometimes petioles and stems are attacked and show cankers.
The lesions on the stem are dark brown becoming grey in the centre as the black pycnidia develop.
Mostly the stem base is attacked and is characterised by constriction of the base or a grey dry rot.
The skin peels off and the inner tissues are exposed.
In strong wind, infected plants topple down due to breaking of the main stem.

The fruit is attacked while on the plant.

Pale, sunken spots develop on the fruit and may progress to cover the entire fruit surface. The internal portion of the fruit rots.

Factors responsible for disease

Wet weather coupled with high temperature favours the disease development.

Management

Use healthy seed materials for sowing.
Seed should be extracted only from disease free fruits.
After extraction of seeds it should be dried for a week and then stored.
Avoid continuous cultivation of brinjal. A rotation of brinjal - paddy - gingelly will helps to check the disease development.
In the fields the affected plants and debris should be collected and burnt
During summer deep ploughing should be given.
Spray Mancozeb 75 % WP @ 3 g per litre of water in the early vegetative stage.

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Sclerotina Blgiht

The disease is caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) De Bary.
It is a serious disease of brinjal
Besides brinjal, it also infects tomato, potato, pea, chick pea and lentil .
The damage to brinjal is mainly through partial or complete wilting of the plant. Occasionally, the fungus may attack the seedlings in nursery.

Symptom

The infection may occur at any part of the foliage, mainly the stem or branches.
At the point of infection, a dry and discoloured spot develops.
It gradually girdles the entire stem and also progresses up and down.
As a result of tissue necrosis, the portion of the plant beyond the point of infection wilts.

Factors responsible for disease

High soil moisture coupled with temperatures range of 16 to 21^oC is favourable for disease development.
In the absence of the host, the fungus subsist in the form of sclerotia in soil or affected plant debris.

Management

Immediately after harvest, the affected plants and debris should be collected and burnt.
Deep summer ploughing should be given in such a way that surface soil is buried deep.
Rotation of cropping pattern with crops like beet root, onion, maize, paddy and gingelly eliminate the fungal inoculum in the field.
Spraying Mancozeb 75 % WP @ 3 g per litre or Carbandazim 50% WP @ 2 g per litre controls the disease.

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Tamilnadu

Brinjal

About Brinjal

History

Morphology

Brinjal Management

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