Solanum nigrum, a new host for powdery mildew disease of Capsicum annuum in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, India

A. Sudha; P. Lakshmanan

doi:10.1071/DN07040

RESEARCH ARTICLE

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Solanum nigrum, a new host for powdery mildew disease of Capsicum annuum in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, India

A. Sudha ^A ^B and P. Lakshmanan ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, India.

^B Corresponding author. Email: sudhaa1981@yahoo.com

Australasian Plant Disease Notes 2(1) 97-98 https://doi.org/10.1071/DN07040
Submitted: 6 March 2007 Accepted: 21 June 2007 Published: 3 July 2007

Abstract

In October–November 2004, a severe outbreak of powdery mildew disease incited by Leveillula taurica was observed on Capsicum annuum (cv. K2) (chilli) and caused yield loss up to 80%. A similar type of symptom was also recorded on Solanum nigrum grown in and around chilli fields. Based on the morphological characteristics and cross infectivity, it has been confirmed that the powdery mildew pathogens from C. annuum and S. nigrum are the same. The pathogen from C. annuum could infect S. nigrum and vice versa. Other cultivated plant species were not infected. This might be due to the probable occurrence of physiological races. This is the first report of this organism causing powdery mildew in S. nigrum in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. The ability of L. taurica to infect the native host S. nigrum is particularly important because this host plant might serve as an inoculum reservoir for adjacently cultivated C. annuum.

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