AGA332: CROP DISEASES

MANAGEMENT
(Lecture 11)
self study notes
Stephen Mushimwa Chileshe
07 April 2021
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stephenmushimwa@yahoo.com
These notes are arranged in two parts;
• Part 1 looks at Brassica oleracea
• Part 2 covers Lycopersicon esculentum

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Part 1: DISEASES OF Cabbage

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Cabbage
Background
• Brassica oleracea, is a herbaceous annual or biennial vegetable in the family
Brassicaceae grown for its edible head.
• Many different varieties of cabbage which include the white and red cabbage
(Brassica oleracea var. capitata) and the savoy cabbage (Brassica
oleracea var. sabauda).
• The head of the cabbage is round and forms on a short thick stem.
• The leaves are thick and alternating with wavy or lobed edges and the roots are are
fibrous and shallow.
• The plant produces large yellow flowers.
• The densely leaved heads can range in size from 0.5 to 3.6 kg depending on
variety.
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Powdery Mildew
• Powdery Mildew is a fungal disease.
• Caused by the fungus Erysiphe cruciferarum.
• Causes a powdery coating over all areas of plants.
• When nights are cool and damp and days warm and dry,
this mildew quickly covers plants

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Powdery Mildew
• Stressed plants will be more susceptible to disease.
• The fungus survives on infected hosts or on infected crop
debris.
• Disease is promoted under cool conditions of low rainfall
and reduced relative humidity.

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Powdery Mildew
Symptoms
Small, distinct white patches develop on both leaf
surfaces.
Later, patches coalesce until a powdery mass of white
mycelium and spores cover the entire leaf.
Leaves later become yellow, and then necrotic.
Soft rot pathogens may invade areas with powdery
mildew.
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Powdery mildew in 9
cabbage
Powdery Mildew
Control
• Plant resistant varieties if available.
• Avoid over-application of nitrogen fertilizers; use an optimum,
balance fertility regime.
• spraying bi-weekly with sulphur as soon as mildew is spotted.
• Avoid drought stress.
• Practice crop rotation (Avoid continuous cropping of susceptible
crucifers)

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Downy Mildew
• The symptoms of downy mildew can be a bit misleading, because
at first glance, they're similar to the symptoms of nutritional
deficiencies or even viral diseases.
• Young plants and new leaf growth are most vulnerable to this
fungal disease.

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Downy Mildew
symptoms
• Yellow or speckled spots on the upper leaf surface with
corresponding greyish-white fungal growths on the
underside.
• Cabbage heads develop numerous black spots.
• Leaf edges may curl downwards, and faint grey fuzz may
appear on the undersides of leaves

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Downy mildew on seedlings 13
Downy mildew on
upperside of leaf
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• Downy mildew and powdery mildew can look
very much alike at first glance, but they are
actually quite different.
• Both of these forms of mildew typically only
affect the leaves.

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Downy Mildew
control
• repeated chemical applications are the best way to control
the disease.
• use of resistant cultivars.

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Bacterial Soft Rot
• infected plant tissues develop a water-soaked lesion that
enlarges rapidly.
• affected area becomes soft and mushy and generally
turns a dark color in advanced stages.
• infected plants give off an offensive odor.
• losses may occur in the field, transit, or storage.

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Bacterial Soft Rot

control
• removal of infected plants
• avoid plant injury during weeding
• sanitation

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Fusarium Wilt
• Fusarium wilt or yellows, is a fungal diseases
• it exhibits many of the characteristics of black rot, and it is often
misdiagnosed.
• yellowing of leaves are the first symptom of Fusarium wilt which
eventually results in the plant wilting and dying; yellow to
greenish-yellow leaves, which may drop off.
• soon after yellowing appears, water conducting tissue becomes
reddish brown, usually first on one side of stem

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Fusarium Wilt
• fungus may live for years in the soil and water.
• warm to hot weather during the growing season favours
disease development.
• unlike some other diseases, an infected plant may shed
the affected leaves and recover enough to produce a
healthy head of cabbage.

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Leaves affected by Fusarium dropping
away from plant.
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Fusarium Wilt
control
Since the fungus that causes this disease can live free in
the soil for many years and has several other
characteristics that differ from most other vegetable disease
fungi, the conventional controls such as rotation, seed
treatment, fungicide sprays, and destruction of crop debris
are of little value once the fungus has established itself on a
farm or in a specific field (Umesha et al., 2015)

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Fusarium Wilt
management
• fumigation
• use of resistant cultivars
• pull out and burn infected plants.

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Damping Off
• damping off prevents young seedlings from sprouting or causes
them to die shortly after sprouting.
• young seedlings wilt and die.
• seedlings fall over and die.
• wet weather and high humidity are two conditions that encourage
damping off.
symptoms
• light brown stems and wilting in young plants.

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Damping Off
management
• use treated seed.
• let soil dry out between “waterings”.
• grow in well-drained healthy soil.
• allow plenty of space for air circulation between seedlings.
• water in the morning, rather than in the evening, which will
allow time for soil to drain before nightfall.

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Part 2. Diseases of tomato

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