<div>Background: The cultivation of cabbage is impacted heavily due to cabbage head rot causing plant pathogen, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. The present study was conducted to know the prevalence of cabbage head rot pathogen in Tamil Nadu and to assess its virulence. 
 
Methods: In this study, the survey was conducted on major cabbage-growing regions of Tamil Nadu. Pathogen associated with cabbage head rot was isolated and Koch&rsquo;s postulates were conducted. Further the isolated pathogen was characterized morphologically and molecularly through ITS and species-specific primers. 
 
Results: Among the surveyed areas, Nanjanadu village in Nilgiris district showed the highest percent disease incidence of 45.23% compared to other regions. A total of ten S. sclerotiorum isolates (TNAU-SS-1, TNAU-SS-2, TNAU-SS-3, TNAU-SS-4, TNAU-SS-5, TNAU-SS-6, TNAU-SS-7, TNAU-SS-8, TNAU-SS-9, TNAU-SS-10) were obtained during isolation. Based on the virulence assay, TNAU-SS-5 (MZ379266) isolate showed a quicker lesion size of 3.77 cm2 in comparison to the control. The molecular conformation of pathogen was carried out using ITS 1 and ITS 4 primers targeting 18S-28S rRNA gene fragments. Furthermore, the isolates were confirmed with specific primers and identified as S. sclerotiorum.</div>

Virulence Assay and Morpho-molecular Characterization of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum-The Cabbage Head Rot Pathogen

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: The post-harvest tomato fruit rot disease is common threat to the tomato fruit, causing huge economic loss as revealed by (GOP, 2018). The present study was conducted for isolation and identification of causative agent of tomato fruit rot in order to formulate the proper management stretegies.&nbsp; Methods: Study was conducted in three phases. Phase one included collection of tomato fruit samples from vicinity of Tandojam. In phase two pathogens were isolated from the samples at laboratory, while in the phase three pathogens were identified using standard procedures.&nbsp; Result: The experimental results indicated Alternaria solani as the main cause of post-harvest tomato fruit rot. The symptoms observed were presence of brown to black rot lesions on tomato fruits with distinct rings ranging from small pin-heads to whole surface of fruit. A total of six different fungi viz., Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Alternaria solani, Geotrichum candidum, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizopus stolonifer were found to be associated with post harvest tomato rot. Significantly higher infection was recorded for A. solani (53.667%) followed by A. niger (16.333%) and G. candidum (13.00%). The lowest infection percentage was observed for F. oxysporum (2.333%), followed by A. alternata (4.00%) and R. stolonifer (9.00%). A. solani produced aerial mycelium with yellowish to reddish diffusible pigments. A. niger cultures were typically black and colonies were initially whitish to yellow and later became brown to black in colour. G. candidum produced white and nonaerial colonies. F. oxysporum produced circular, aerial mycelium initially white, later changed to light pink. R. stolonifer produced whitish to grey fuzzy colonies.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Isolation and Identification of the Fungi Causing Tomato Fruit Rot Disease in the Vicinity of Tandojam, Sindh</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important legume crop of tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. This crop suffers from several diseases like early leaf spot, late leaf spot, rust, groundnut bud necrosis, peanut clump and collar rot etc. But collar rot caused by Aspergillus niger van Teighem is one of the most important seed and soil borne diseases causing huge economic (40-50 per cent) loss in India and abroad. 
 
Methods: A roving survey was conducted to assess the incidence of collar rot in eight major groundnut growing districts of western Rajasthan i.e. Bikaner, Jodhpur, Churu, Jalore, Jaipur, Sikar, Nagaur and Dausa during Kharif 2018. A field experiment was carried out for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) to manage the disease through altering micro-climate under canopy with six levels of seed rates (80, 85, 90, 95, 100 and 105 kg/ha). 
 
Result: Our investigations cleared that this disease is prevalent in all the 200 fields surveyed in eight districts of Rajasthan with 22.99 per cent overall disease incidence which varied from 17.84 to 32.38 per cent with monetary losses. Maximum disease incidence was recorded in Jaipur (28.85%) district while it was lowest in Nagaur district (20.15%). Higher disease reduction (12.97%) with increased pod yield (27.65%) was observed with higher seed rate of 105 kg/ha as compared to standard recommended seed rate (80 kg/ha) as this pathogen is favoured by higher temperature and low soil moisture, dense canopy provides shade that increases humidity under the cropped area and lowers temperature. As a result of this, plant mortality can be compensated by increasing plant population through seed rate, as it modifies the microclimate and generate an environment which is less favourable for developing collar rot disease of groundnut.</div>

​​Incidence of Collar Rot of Groundnut in Rajasthan and its Management

<div>Background: Groundnut is an important edible leguminous oilseed crop and stem rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii is one of the major soil borne disease affecting groundnut severely in India. The current study aimed to get an understanding regarding the incidence level and pattern of prevalence of the disease in the agro-ecological condition of Andhra Pradesh.&nbsp;</div>

<div> 
Methods: Roving survey was taken up from major groundnut growing areas in Andhra Pradesh during kharif, 2019 and kharif, 2020 in five districts. From each district predominant groundnut growing areas were chosen for assessment of the disease. Five spots of one square meter area in each field were selected randomly and Per cent disease incidence was recorded.</div>

<div> 
Result: From the data it is observed that the stem and pod rot incidence was higher during kharif, 2020 when compared with kharif, 2019. The pooled data indicated that the mean stem rot incidence for the two years ranges from 5.39% to 23.56% with highest mean stem rot incidence in Krishnapuram (v), Kothapatnam (m) of Prakasam dist (23.56%) and lowest in Bandarupalli (v), Yerpedu (m) of Chittoor dist (5.39%). Among different districts highest mean stem rot incidence was recorded in Prakasam dist (18.71%) and lowest was recorded in Chittoor dist (7.11%). The stem rot severity was high in sandy soils with TAG24 variety where groundnut is being grown followed by red sandy loams and least in clay loam soils. The groundnut sole crop recorded high disease incidence when compared with intercrop of red gram. Siginificant positive correlation was recorded between stem rot, pod rot and leaf spot incidence.</div>

Survey for the Incidence of Stem Rot (Sclerotium rolfsii sacc) of Groundnut in Andhra Pradesh

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: The most important wheat diseases that caused by soil-borne fungi are the root-rot disease. The current investigation conducted with evaluation the efficacy of some bioagents, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Azospirillum brasilense, Trichoderma harzianum, commercial bioagent (Planta guard) and chitosan against the causal pathogenic organisms of wheat root rot disease under greenhouse conditions.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Wheat seedlings infected with root rot disease were subjected to the causal fungal isolation trails. In greenhouse, wheat grains were sown individually in pots containing artificially infested soil with the pathogenic fungi R. solani or F. graminearum. Furthermore, the tested bioagents and the fungicide Topsin-M 70 were applied to the infested soil before sowing.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The isolated fungi were R. solani or F. graminearum had proved their pathogenic ability to induce root rot disease of wheat. In pot experiment, all applied treatments affect root rot incidence of grown wheat seedlings in artificially infested soils with disease incidents. In infested soils with root rot incidents, bacterial bioagents reduced root rot incidence by 84.5-93.6% and 28.4- 35.3% 66.6, respectively and by 43.7% for T. harzianum. Moderate effect was obtained by chitosan and planta guard treatments in soil infested with either pathogenic fungi.</div>

<div>Biocontrol Agents for Controlling Wheat Root Rot Disease under Greenhouse Conditions</div>

<div>Background: Fruit rot is an age old destructive disease of chilli caused by complex fungal pathogens resulting in severe yield losses both at pre and post-harvest stages. Hence, this study aims to investigate the occurrence of fruit rot disease in Tamil Nadu and to identify the fungal pathogens associated with fruit rot symptoms based on morpho-molecular characters.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Roving survey was conducted in various districts of Tamil Nadu to determine the prevalence of fruit rot disease and to ascertain its causative agents. The pathogens were identified based on the conidial morphology, cultural characteristics and further confirmed by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using ITS 1 and ITS 4 primers.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Maximum disease severity was documented in Dharmapuri followed by Namakkal and lowest in Nagapattinam district. Ten isolates representing two genera viz., Colletotrichum and Fusarium were recovered from fruit rot infected chilli fruits and validated by pathogenicity test. Based on the morpho-cultural characters, 2 isolates were identified as Fusarium sp., with oval/ellipsoidal microconidia and straight/curved macroconidia, 6 isolates as Colletotrichum scovillei with fusiform conidia and 2 isolates as Colletotrichum truncatum with falcate conidia. The virulent isolates were further confirmed as C. scovillei based on PCR amplification of ITS region of genomic DNA.</div>

Understanding the Etiology of Chilli Fruit Rot Disease in Tamil Nadu

<div style="text-align: justify;">Resistance pattern in parents produce predominantly resistance progenies. Inheritance of resistance gene against red rot intensely affected to degree of frequency in progenies. Present study was commenced to find out the role of parental crosses to develop resistant progenies in first clonal generation over a period of two consecutive years. Total of 2262 progenies of 10 bi-parental crosses combinations were evaluated to red rot resistance. CoS 96260, CoS 95255, CoS 8436, Co 0238, CoSe 92423, Co 89003, Co 62198 and CoS 08272 were good parents which involved in bi-parental cross combination, produced predominantly resistant progenies ranging from 40 to 100 per cent. The cross combination Co 8213 &times; CoS 96260 produced maximum proportion 100% resistant progenies, higher than CoS 95255 &times; CoA 7602 (83.33 %) and Co 8436 &times; Co 1148 (80%). These parents identified as a good combiner and also found to inherit resistance gene in bulk of its progenies. These parents could be used as a donor parents in red rot resistance breeding programmes of sugarcane.</div>

Frequency of Red Rot Resistance in the Progeny Population of Various Cross Combinations

<div>Root rot caused by Rhizoctonia solani is an important disease of mothbean, under severe infestation it causes 58-68 % losses in grain yield. Three-year field experiments were conducted in hot arid conditions at Bikaner, Rajasthan during kharif seasons with the objective to find out suitable eco-friendly management strategies for root rot. The experiment was conducted on cv. RMO-225 with six different combination of Trichoderma harzianum + Pseudomonas fluorescens bio- agents viz, seed treatment, soil treatment and their combinations against the root rot disease and compared with an untreated control. Results of experiment showed that all the treatments brought significant decline in disease incidence and consequently enhancement of grain yield compared to control. The treatment having combination of Trichoderma harzianum + Pseudomonas fluorescens seed treatment (4+4 g/kg seed) + soil application of T. harzianum + P. fluorescens (1.25 +1.25 kg in 50 kg FYM for each/ha) had minimum (21.78 %) root rot incidence, highest grain yield (10.56 q /ha) and net return (Rs. 14,338/ha). The T. harzianum seed treatment 8 g/kg seed + soil application of T. harzianum 2.5kg in 100 kg FYM/ha &nbsp;was the next best treatment with &nbsp;25.56 per cent disease incidence and 9.42 q/ha of grain yield. These treatments can provide an effective, economical and eco- friendly management of root rot of mothbean for cultivators.</div>

<div>Management of Root Rot (Rhizoctonia solani) of Mothbean through Bio-Agents</div>

<div>Background: Fusarium fruit rot symptoms appear at all stages of banana fruit once infection initiates and progress from the stylar end as dark brown to black small spots which eventually turns black rotten areas leading to rotten pulp which renders the fruit unmarketable. Very meagre research work has been done on Fusarium fruit rot disease of banana in India and hence the present investigation on Fusarium fruit rot diseases of banana was undertaken south Gujarat condition.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: During the period 2018-2019 tested different inoculation methods were tested on the development of banana Fusarium fruit rot disease viz., stylar end pricking, rubbing, pricking at epicarp and without injury on banana fruit. Disease severity and incidence were recorded at 4th and 8th day after inoculation. In order to find out the most vulnerable stage of fruit for initiation of infection and development of Fusarium fruit rot disease, three stages of fruits were selected i.e., unripe, semi-ripe and ripe. 
 
Result:&nbsp; Among, the different methods with fruit injury, stylar end pricking method was found best for the infection and development of Fusarium fruit rot (34.14%) after 8th days of inoculation followed by pricking at epicarp (27.79%). Further it was observed that injury of fruit surface is essential for infection and development of Fusarium fruit rot in banana. However, the severity of Fusarium fruit rot revealed that the highest severity was recorded in ripe fruits (30.21%) as compared to semi ripe (30.08%) and unripe (14.70%) fruits.</div>

<div>Impact of Inoculation Methods and Fruit Maturity on Development of Fusarium Fruit Rot (Fusarium musae) Disease in Banana</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an important short duration crop which can be grown in all seasons and produces high quality edible and industrial oil, besides animal feed and fodders. Sclerotium rolfsii cause both pre and post-emergence mortality of young seedlings besides inciting collar rot in adult plants is considered to be potential biotic limiting factor for cultivation of sunflower. Keeping this fact in view, few fungicides and bio-agents were tested as seed treatment and soil application to manage the collar rot of sunflower under screen house and field conditions. Results indicated that use of fungicides and bio-agents as seed and soil treatments significantly reduced the incidence of collar rot. Under screen house conditions, maximum disease control (75.15 %) was obtained by Vitavax power (carboxin + thiram ) @ 2g/kg seed followed by captan 50 WP @ 3g/kg (70.35%). &nbsp;Trichoderma harzianum @ 20g/kg soil application showed maximum control of the disease (40.62%) as compared to untreated control. Results of studies conducted under field conditions revealed that seed treatment with captan 50 WP @ 3g/kg seed was found most effective treatment in controlling the disease incidence (73.38 %). Among the different bio-agent evaluated, Pseudomonas fluorescensas &nbsp;as soil application gave maximum disease control (55.11 %) of collar rot of sunflower and also maximum seed yield</div>