Banana Anthracnose: Gloeosporium musarum
Symptom:
- The fungus attacks the young banana fruits usually at the distal end
- At the initial stage, small, circular, black spots develop on the affected fruits. Then these spots enlarge in size, turn to brown colour
- The skin of the fruit turns black and shrivels and becomes covered with characteristic pink acervuli. Finally, the whole finger is affected. Later the disease spreads and affects the whole bunch.
- The disease results in premature ripening and shrivelling of the fruits which are covered with pink spore masses.
- Occurrence of black lesions on the pedicel causes withering of the pedicel and dropping of the fingers from the hands
- Sometimes the main stalk of the bunch may become diseased. Infected fruits become black and rotten
Identification of pathogen:
- Acervuli are usually rounded or sometimes elongated, erumpent.
- Conidiophores are cylindrical, tapered towards the apex, hyaline, septate, branched and sub-hyaline towards the base, each with a single terminal phialidic aperture
- Conidia are hyaline, aseptate, oval to elliptical or straight cylindrical, obtuse apices or flattened at base and obtuse at the apex, guttate.
- The spread of the disease is by airborne conidia and numerous insects which frequently visit banana flowers also spread the disease =
- The disease is favoured by high atmospheric temperature and humidity, wounds and bruises caused in the fruit and susceptibility of the variety.
Management:
Cultural method
- Avoid damage to fruits at harvest and transit
- Burn the infected materials
- Proper field sanitation
- Practice crop rotation with paddy or sugarcane
- Keep the field free of weeds and provide good drainage
- Fruit should be free from infection and as possible before it is transported, stored and ripened
- Banana bunches should be harvested at the correct stage of maturity.
- Proper fertilization prevents the infection
Mechanical method
- The distal bud should be removed when all the hands opened to prevent infection
- After harvest, the bunches should be transported to the store house without causing any bruises to them. The transported bunches should be stored carefully at 7 to 10°c.
- Avoid contamination in collecting places, during transport and in ripening rooms
Chemical method
- Protective spraying when the fruit is still young with Bordeaux mixture 1%
- Pre-harvest spray with Prochloroz 0.2% or Carbendazim 0.1% or Chlorothalonil 0.2% four times at fortnightly interval is highly effective
- Post harvest dipping of fruits in mycostatin 440 ppm or Aureofunginsol 100 ppm or Carbendazim 400 ppm or Benomyl 1000 ppm
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
