POTATO SCAB

COMMON SCAB OF POTATO

Importance

CSP is one of the most important disease that affect underground parts of the plants and
whose symptoms consists of more or less localized scabby lesions affecting primarily
the outer tissues of these parts. It occurs throughout the world. It is most prevalent and
important in neutral or slightly alkaline soils, especially during relatively dry years. The
same pathogen also affects beets, radish, and other root crops. The usually superficial
blemishes on tubers and roots reduce the value rather than the yield of crop. Severe
infections may reduce yield and deep scabs increases the waste in peeling. Farmers are
concerned of this disease because infected tubers fetch lower price and can’t be kept in
storage for a long time. In W. B. CSP caused by S. scabies is initially notified in Hoogly
district especially in the adjoining area of Damodar river, which has now spread out all
over the plains.

Symptoms

CSP affects mostly the tubers. Infected tubers at first develop small, brownish, raised
spots. Later, the spots usually enlarge, coalesce and become corky. The lesions extend 3
-4 mm deep in the tuber. Sometimes the lesions appear as numerous rusted areas that
almost cover the tuber surface or they may appear as slight protuberances with
depressed centers covered with corky tissue.

The causal organism

The pathogen, Streptomyces scabies (thaxter), Waksman and Henrici, is a saprophyte

that can survive indefinitely in most of soils except the most acidic once. S. scabies
consists of slender (about 1 m. thick), branched mycelium with few or no cross walls.
The mycelium produces cylindrical spores about 0.6x 1.5 m, on specialized spiral
hyphae. These hyphae develop cross walls from the tip toward their base, and, as the
cross wall constrict, spores are pinched off at the tip and eventually break away. The
spores produce one or two germ tubes which develop into the mycelioid form. Other
species of Streptomyces such as S. griseus, S. auroefaciens, and S. flaveolus are also
responsible for causing mild common scab.

Dispersal and Establishment:

The pathogen is spread through soil-water, by wind-blown soil, and on infected potato
seed tubers. It penetrates tissue through lenticels, wounds, stomata and in young tubers
directly. Young tubers are more susceptible to infection than older once. After
penetration the pathogen apparently grows between or through a few layers of cells,
the cells die and the pathogen then drives food from them. In response to the infection,
the living cells surrounding the lesion divide rapidly and produce several layers of cork

Prepared and compiled by Dr. Bholanath Mondal, Department of Plant Pathology, Palli-Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati
cells that isolate the pathogen and several plant cells. Usually, several such groups of
cork cell layer are produced and as their pushed outward and sloughed off, the
pathogen grows and multiplies in the additional dead cells thereby allowing large scab
lesion to develop. The depth of the lesion seems to depend on the host variety, on soil
condition and on the invasion of scab lesions by other organisms, including insects. The
later apparently break down the cork layers and allow the pathogen to invade the tuber
in great depth.

Epidemiology:

The severity of common scab of potato increases as the pH of the soil increases from pH
5.2 to 8.0 and decrease with lower down the pH below 5.2. Potato scab incidence is
greatly reduced by high soil moisture during the of tuber initiation and for several
weeks afterward. Potato scab is also lower in fields after certain crop rotation and the
ploughing under of certain green manure crops, probably as a result of inhibition of the
pathogen by antagonistic micro-organisms. A temperature of 25-30C is most suitable
for the growth of the organism. Optimum temperature for infection is slightly below
20C and for lesions develop it is slightly above 20C. Pathogen is most active in dry soil.

Management:

1. Use of certified healthy and scab free seeds of potatoes.

2. Seed tuber treatment with MEMC 6% WP@ 0.25% for 5 mint. or Mancozeb 75%
WP @ 0.25% for 15 mint. or Boric acid @ 0.3 % solution for 30 mint. before
planting can effectively control the common scab disease.
3. CSP can be effectively reduced by seed tuber dip with organo-mercurials at
0.25% concentration for 30 min. before storage.
4. If the field is already infested with the pathogen, a fair degree of diseases control
may be obtained by -
a. Using certain crop rotations with crops like wheat, pea, oats, barley, lupin,
soybean, sorghum, bajra, cotton, cabbage, onion and adopt green
manuring to keep the disease (pathogen) under checked.
b. Bringing and holding the soil to about pH 5.3 with soil ameliorant
(sulphur/gypsum). It is better to use acidic fertilizers such as ammonium
sulphate as nitrogen source.
c. Irrigation should be provided to the crop repeatedly to keep the moisture
near to field capacity right from tuber initiation until the tubers measure
1cm in diameter.
d. Maintaining high moisture in ridges at least for a few weeks (6 weeks)
during the initial tuberization phase of crop.
e. Ploughing of the potato field in April and leave the soil exposed to high
temperatures during May to Junes in the North India plains.

***Another type of scab i.e. Powdery Scab of Potato caused by a fungal pathogen,
Spongospora subterranea (Wallr.) Lagerheim.

Prepared and compiled by Dr. Bholanath Mondal, Department of Plant Pathology, Palli-Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati