<div>Background: Aerial blight (Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn) and Anthracnose/pod blight (Colletotrichum truncatum) are important soybean diseases, affect most of the present varieties with varying intensity, in India. There are also few reports of resistance against both the diseases.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: To identify resistance, a set of 121 diverse soybean genotypes including six susceptible checks i.e. JS 93-05, JS 335, JS 72-280, Punjab 1, RKS 18 and VLS 58 were evaluated under high disease pressure field conditions during 2017, 2018 and 2019. Moreover, assessment of yield losses due to these diseases were also worked out in highly infected plants of susceptible checks. 
 
Result: It was observed that aerial blight (0.0-46.8 per cent) and anthracnose/pod blight (0.0-56.2 per cent) were affected soybean genotypes from R1 to R7 and V3 to R7 stages, respectively. The genotypes responded differently and showed absolute resistance to susceptible reaction. Out of 121 genotypes, only five genotypes i.e. JS 20-57, JSM 222, MACS 1407, PS 1611 and Cat 2126 B were found to be highly resistant against both the diseases. Per cent pod and yield losses were significantly correlated with varying severity of aerial blight (0.966** and 0.995**) and anthracnose/pod blight (0.957** and 0.995**), respectively. However, the highest yield loss of 41.0 and 64.8 per cent were recorded on 55.6 and 75.2 per cent disease index (at 90 days) of aerial blight and anthracnose/pod blight, respectively.</div>

<div>Identification of Sources of Resistance and Yield Loss Assessment for Aerial Blight and Anthracnose/Pod Blight Diseases in Soybean</div>

<div>Pulses in India have been considered as the poor man&rsquo;s only source of protein. Among them Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an important food legume which is also known as vegetable meat due to high amount of protein in the grain with better biological value on dry weight basis. Various factors viz., diseases and insect pests are mostly responsible for its low production.&nbsp;Among diseases, web blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani is one of the most important disease of cowpea. The web blight appears every year at varying intensity and causes heavy losses in yield. Web blight disease is most severe at seedling and vegetative stage. The disease is characterized by oval or spindle shaped brown black lesions having length ranging from 0.2-8 cm at soil level near collar region and girdling the basal portion of the stem&nbsp;and lesions developed by basidiospores of Thanatephorus cucumeris which are 2-4 mm in diameter, circular and appear as brown necrotic spots with light brown centre. Cob web like symptoms also noticed hence, the name web blight.</div>

<div>Current Status and Prospect of Web Blight of Cowpea: A Review</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Onion (Allium cepa) is one of the most important crop grown throughout the world. Onion suffers from many diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and abiotic factors. Among them fungal diseases stemphylium blight is the most serious and devastating disease of onion limiting the quality and quantity of both bulb and seed. The present review is mainly focused on variability associated with Stemphylium vesicarium and its integrated management. Variability studies are important to document the changes occurring in the population and individuals with variability in morphological, cultural and pathogenic characteristics so as to breed the varieties with durable resistance to the stemphylium blight of onion andidentification of source of resistance against the range of virulence present in the pathogen population. Further, management of stemphylium blight of onion through fungicide application is feasible, however, long term usage of fungicides has led to the resistance development in pathogens besides hazardous environmental consequences associated with their use. The most efficient and economical method to mitigate the menace of this disease is therefore, integrated disease management (IDM) approach where other non-chemical ecofriendly management strategies are integrated with chemical methods in order to manage the diseases more efficiently with reduced use of chemicals. Among non-chemical ecofriendly management strategies biological control is gaining interest as an alternative or complement to chemical treatment of the disease. The present review paper deals with distribution, symptomatology, pathogenicity, variability and integrated management.&nbsp;</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Stemphylium Blight of Onion: A Review</div>

<div>Background: Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp] is one of the primary grain legume crops grown in India for its high quality vegetable protein, animal feed and fodder. It is affected by various fungal and viral diseases. Among these, leaf blight caused by Alternaria alternata is one of the most destructive diseases and recently the disease of minor importance becomes major one in Tamil Nadu. Use of resistant cultivar is the most effective, economically viable and eco-friendly tool for combating the plant diseases. The micronutrients play a key role in many physiological and biochemical functions of the plants which influences plant pathogenic interaction. The micronutrients viz., Zn.Mn,Cu and Fe found to have greater impact on reducing the plant disease severity. Developing integrated disease management strategy involving disease resistant variety, micronutrient and fungicide application would be the best sustainable method for controlling the pigeonpea leaf blight. 
 
Methods: Twenty four pigeonpea genotypes along with two local varieties viz., CO5 and CO6 were evaluated in the field for their resistance against Alternaria alternata leaf blight disease, consecutively for three years from 2015-16 to 2017-18 using the disease resistance scale ranging from 0 to 9. Field experiments were also conducted for three consecutive Kharif season from 2015 to 2018 to evaluate the efficacy of the foliar application of different micronutrients and combination fungicide viz., carbendazim 12% + mancozeb 63% on the incidence of leaf blight disease.&nbsp; 
 
Result: A total of 24 pigeonpea genotypes were screened for their resistance against leaf blight under field condition. Among these, four genotypes viz., BDN2, IPA 8F, IPA 15F and MA6 were found resistance and nine genotypes were moderately resistant and remaining 11 genotypes showed susceptible reaction to leaf blight. The results of the field experiment on micronutrient and fungicide application revealed that foliar spraying of MnSO 4 @0.2% on 30 days after sowing and carbendazim 12%+ mancozeb 63%@ 1g / lit on 45 days after sowing recorded the lowest leaf blight incidence of 8.1 PDI (Per cent Disease Index) with the highest disease reduction of 76.9% as against 35 PDI in the untreated control plot. The above treatments also recorded the highest grain yield of 905 kg/ ha as against 703 kg/ in the untreated control.</div>

<div>Management of Alternaria Leaf Blight in Pigeonpea through Host Plant Resistance and Micronutrient Application</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">The production and productivity of urdbean ranks lower in India as compared to the that of world average due to the biotic and abiotic constraints. Web blight of Urdbean is caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn and is a soil borne pathogen and initial inoculums come mainly from soil splashes which fall on leaves during heavy rains. Respective optimum temperature and relative humidity i.e. 26&ndash;28oC and 90&ndash;100% favours disease development chronically. The pathogen can survive very longer in the absence of a host either as sclerotia or thick walled brown hyphae in plants debris. Currently the disease is prevalent in many countries across the globe. The pathogen is highly variable in terms of its pathogenicity, culture, morphology, biochemical and molecular characteristics. The severity of this disease is directly linked with the population of viable sclerotia in the soil. Yield losses due to this disease vary in between 20-30% depending upon prevailing conditions.</div>

Urdbean web blight and its management strategies- A review

<div>Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is high value oilseed crop grown throughout the world as well as in few soybean growing pockets in India. The hot and humid weather conditions during the soybean cropping season favours the attack by various fungal, bacterial and viral diseases, thereby lowering the crop productivity. Rhizoctonia aerial blight or web blight disease, caused by Rhizoctonia solani is considered one of the most economically important disease of soybean in India. It causes yields losses ranging from 35-60% which might reach a devastating level of 80% under favourable environmental conditions. In India, the disease has been reported from most of the soybean growing states of Uttrakhand, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam. Epidemiological studies prove to be very important in managing the disease as the disease severity highly depends on the weather variables prevailing in the growing season. The present review has attempted to compile findings on this devastating disease of soybean crops, its prevalence in the country, epidemiological studies and strategies on integrated disease management.</div>

Rhizoctonia Aerial Blight of Soybean, its Prevalence and Epidemiology: A Review

Background: The anthracnose/pod blight disease caused by Colletotrichum species, is considered as a major limitation in soybean cultivation worldwide, causing significant yield losses. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of soybean anthracnose/pod blight in different geographical locations of Uttarakhand and to identify the Colletotrichum species associated with the disease. 
 
Methods: Roving survey was carried out in various soybean growing areas of Uttarakhand, covering 82 villages in 11 districts during kharif 2017 to 2019. In order to record the prevalence of the disease, incidence and severity were recorded periodically in soybean fields. From different surveyed locations, samples of anthracnose and pod blight were collected, isolated and identified on the basis of genetic analysis of the ITS region of rDNA. 
 
Result: The survey study revealed that disease was evident in all surveyed districts of Uttarakhand except district Haridwar. The pooled mean incidence and severity of pod blight infection in different districts ranged from 3.96 to 27.0 per cent and 2.04 to 15.69 per cent, respectively, maximum in the U. S. Nagar district and minimum in the Almora district. It was observed that disease incidence and severity decreased with rises in altitude with highly significant negative correlation of -0.89 and -0.89, respectively. Three distinct Colletotrichum species i.e., C. truncatum, C. cliviae (=C. cliviicola) and C. chlorophyti were identified through molecular characterization of the ITS-5.8S rDNA region (BLASTn queries), which were associated with soybean anthracnose/pod blight disease in Uttarakhand.

Distribution and Identification of Colletotrichum Species Associated with Soybean Anthracnose/Pod Blight in Different Geographical Locations of Uttarakhand

<div>French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a major export vegetable crop that is experiencing severe production problems because of the disease Ascochyta blight (Phoma exigua). The crop can be consumed as a green-pods, dry (mature) beans and shell beans. This is one of the major crops that can be grown all over the world. The most damaging disease of this pulse crop occurring worldwide is Ascochyta blight, attracts a lot of attention from researchers. The pathogen has the ability to significantly reduce yields. In certain parts of the world, it is thus known as a major economically significant disease of the common bean. Understanding the Ascochyta blight of French bean pathogen, disease growth, disease cycle and management strategies for efficient disease control will be the subject of this review. This pathogen first infects the foliage and then on peduncle, petiole, node, on pods and even cause stem girdling also. And there will be formation of clearly visible concentric rings of the fruiting bodies in symptoms. The disease is seed-borne and short distance spread will be with the help of wind and rain-splashes.</div>

​Symptoms, Biology and Management of Ascochyta Blight (Phoma exigua) of French Beans: A Review

<div>Background: Leaf blight caused by Exserohilum turcicum (E. turcicum) is commonly or generally found on sorghum grown in the sub-tropics and tropical lowlands during summer. The pathogen is easily wind disseminated and apparently most consistent in their occurrence and severity across the diverse sorghum growing environments. The sweet sorghum variety SSV 74 was released by University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad for kharif season mainly for fodder purpose. This variety is also good for ethanol production and jaggery making. However, for the last several years this variety was showing its susceptibility to the leaf blight caused by E. turcicum and causes heavy losses both in fodder and its quality. Even though there are reports of the presence of leaf blight caused by E. turcicum on the grain sorghum, no precise information is available on the presence of the leaf blight on sweet sorghum in India as well as in the world and no information is available about the magnitude of losses caused by this disease. Hence, the experiment was conducted to assess the losses caused by the E. turcicum. 
 
Methods: An experiment on loss assessment in sweet sorghum due to leaf blight caused by E. turcicum was carried out at Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, during kharif 2017 using randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and seven treatments. Six treatments were imposed with hexaconazole at 0.1% besides a treatment with unsprayed control. 
 
Result: Lowest per cent disease index (PDI) (24.76%) as well as area under disease progressive curve (789.61) was observed in treatment involving six sprays of hexaconazole at 0.1% followed by five sprays, (PDI: 27.51%, AUDPC: 815.32) and four sprays T4 (PDI: 32.57%, AUDPC: 908.80). Highest fodder yield (46.47 t/ha), brix value (12.47%), crude fibre content (28.22%), leaf ash content (23.08%) and crude protein content (5.29%) was observed in treatment with six sprays of hexaconazole at 0.1%. With respect to the per cent increase over control, 17.47-37.20 per cent increase in fodder yield, 7.4-21.17 per cent in brix value, 11.64-9.66 per cent in crude fibre content, 12.74-62.91 per cent in leaf ash content and 4.36-13.00 per cent in crude protein content was observed at one spray to six sprays with hexaconazole at 0.1 per cent, respectively.</div>

Assessment of Losses in Sweet Sorghum Genotype (SSV 74) due to Leaf Blight caused by Exserohilum turcicum (Pass.) Leonard and Suggs

<div>Background: Common bacterial blight (CBB) caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli (Xap) has been recorded as one of the most important seed-borne destructive diseases of beans, affecting its production worldwide. Since chemical compounds cause serious damage to natural ecosystems and in some instances fail in controlling CBB, the use of genetically resistant cultivar is the most economically efficient and environmentally friendly measure in the control of CBB disease. The objective of this study was to assess the resistance reactions of widely grown and popular common bean cultivars against Xap under controlled conditions. 
 
Methods: In this study, 16 dry bean cultivars comprising eight widely grown dry bean varieties, six improved and promising genotypes and two known CBB susceptible varieties, were evaluated for their reaction to the CBB in a completely randomized design with three replications. The reaction of the bean cultivars to Xap was assessed using disease incidence, disease severity, per cent severity index, the area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) and incubation period.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Data analysis indicated that there were highly significant differences (p&le;0.01) among common bean cultivars for CBB disease incidence, disease severity, per cent severity index and AUDPC among cultivars. The cultivated varieties Noyanbey and &Ouml;zmen were identified as resistant cultivars. In addition, SAP6 and BAC6 resistance genes were found in these two cultivars. As a consequence, it was thought that these cultivars could be a potential source of disease resistance for CBB in breeding programs and sustainable, eco-friendly and good agricultural practices.</div>