Diseases of Papaya

for ug course

1. Diseases of papaya and their management Anurag Kerketta Assistant Professor/Scientist CHRS, Jagdalpur

2. Fungal diseases Powdery Mildew: Odium indicum Kamat , Odium caricae Noack , Leveillula taurica (Lev.) Arnauld Leaf- Blight: Corynespora cassiicola (Burk and Curt). Damping-Off : Pythium aphanidermatum Nirvan ; Rhizoctonia solani Subramaniam. Foot Rot : Pythium aphanidermatum Nirvan Anthracnose: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz .

3. Viral diseases Papaya Mosaic Leaf Curl of Papaya Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV)

4. Post harvest diseases FRUIT ROT OF PAPAYA: Macrophomina Rot: Macrophomina phaseoli ( Maubl ). Rhyzophus Rot or Soft Rot: Rhizophus stolonifer ( Ehr .) Phomopsis Rot: Phomopsis caricae ( Pterrak and Cif ) Anthracnose: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

5. Powdery Mildew Speckled water soaked spot on leaf underside. Later become powdery patches. Spot enlarge, covering leaf. Chlorotic and distorted leaves. Premature leaf fall.

6. Causal Organism Odium indicum belongs to the Phylum: Ascomycota, and Order: Erisiphales . The pathogen is an obligate parasite. Odium caricae is in conidial form. Mycelium is hyaline, ectophytic; creeping. Conidia are formed in chains of 2-4, hyaline and elliptical. The asexual spores are borne on long chains and are barrel shaped. The sexual spores are globose, and are gregarious. Each ascocarp contains one ascus.

7. Management C lean cultivation. Increase the application of potassium and inversely reduce application of nitrogen. As soon as the disease symptoms are observed, dusting Sulphur (30 g/10 liters of water) is found effective. The first spray of Triademefon (0.1%) during September and repeated at 15 days interval. Spray systemic fungicides like [email protected]% or [email protected]% at monthly intervals

8. Foot rot / stem rot Water soaked patches on the stem at the ground level. Patches enlarge and girdle the base of the stem. Diseased tissues turn brown or black and rot. Terminal leaves turn yellow, droop and wilt. Fruits shrivel and drop off. Entire plant topples over and dies. Internal tissues of bark appear dry and give honey comb appearance Roots deteriorate and may be destroyed

9. Pathogen Sporangia loculate , toruloid , and vesicle formed at the time of germination, zoospores 30-40 in number present within the vesicle and are born on spherical oogonia . They germinate by producing a germ tube. The sexual spores are the oospores, born singly and moderately thick walled.

10. Management Seedlings should be raised in well drained nursery area Uproot the diseased seedlings and burn. Application of Trichoderma viride (15 g/plant) mixed in well-decomposed FYM should be applied around the root zone of the plants at the time of planting. ST with captan@4g/kg seed or chlorothalonil@2g/kg seed ( R. solani) Drench the base of stem with [email protected]% or [email protected]% or Bordeaux [email protected]%

11. Anthracnose On leave show as gray to brown spots with darker margins and a yellow halo. Later enlarge and coalesce to form sizable necrotic areas. Small light colored spots on the skin of fruits. As they mature, spot grow considerably in size and become dark brown lesion, often with a water soaked or raised appearance. pinkish to whitish speck grows within the lesion in a concentric manner. Fruits tend to fall off prematurely.

12. Pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporoides It belong to the Fungi , Ascomycetes ; The mycelium is branched, sparsely septate, hyaline hyphae. Setae are 1-4 septate and swollen at the base. Conidiophores are hyaline and unbranched. The conidia are sub hyaline and variable in shape. The sexual spores are the ascospores, born on perithecia. The perithecial stage develops on stromatoid cushions in which the perithecia areimmersed .

13. Management The affected fruits should be removed and destroyed. The fruits should be harvested as soon as they mature. Spaying with Copper Oxychloride (0.3%) or Carbendazim (0.1%) or Thiophanate Methyl (0.1%) at 15 days interval effectively controls the disease. Fruits for exports should be subjected to hot water treatment or a fungicidal wax treatment.

14. Mosaic It is a viral disease, transmitted by aphid; Aphis gossypii Symptoms concentrated in young leaves and include a mild leaf mosaic pattern and slight deformation. Dark green blister like parches appear on otherwise yellowish green leaf blade. In later stage leaf veins can show clearing, petioles are somewhat shorter and leaves curl downward. Other parts are not affected.

15. Leaf curl The disease is transmitted by the vector white fly ( Bemisia tabaci). Severe curling, crinkling and deformation of the leaves characterize the disease. Mostly the young leaves are affected. Apart from curling the leaves also exhibit vein clearing and thickening of the veins. Sometimes the petioles are twisted. In severe cases complete defoliation of the affected plant is observed. The affected plants show a stunted growth with reduce fruit yield.

16. Ring spot The virus is spread from plant to plant by any species of aphids , in non- persistant manner. Leaves develops prominent mosaic and chlorosis on the leaf lamina, and water soaked oily streaks on the petioles and upper part of the trunk. Severe symptoms often include a distortion of young leaves which also result in the development of a shortening appearance that resemble mite damage. These consist of concentric rings and spots or C-shaped markings, a darker green than the background-green fruit colour.

17. Management Disease free seedlings. Rouging and destruction of diseased plants. Vector control with [email protected]% or [email protected]% or [email protected]%

18. Macrophomina rot Macrophomina rot appears as small water soaked spots on fruit surface. Gradually, such spots become deeper and sunken causing rotting of inner tissues. Subsequently, small sclerotia develop on these spots. The inner tissues of such fruits develop brownish black color having dark mycelial growth.

19. Rhizopus rot Rhizophus fruit rot or watery fruit rot develops on injured fruits, which develops irregular water soaked lesions. These lesions are in due course, covered with whitish fungal growth which later on turns dark brown. The fruit becomes watery and emit foul smell. Infection spread quickly to the adjoining fruits

20. Phomopsis rot In this, initially water soaked spots appear which will become sunken and dark brown to black in advance stages. Some times such spots are surrounded by white raised tissues on the side. The whole area becomes soft and pulpy giving the typical appearance of soft rot.

21. Management Harvesting at proper maturity and cool hours is necessary to avoid post harvest disease. Post harvest dipping of fruits for 5 min in TBZ (1000) ppm or benomyl (20) has been observed to reduce storage decay. Dusting of fruits with benzoic acid (0.1%) coated in koaline also reduces the rotting.