Occurrence of Major Diseases on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and Their Relationship with Weather Parameters

Eleven medicinal and aromatic plants were found to be infected with fungal diseases. Disease intensity of leaf blight caused by Colletotrichum dematium on Safedmusli was 12.10%, while and Kasturi bhendi was found infected with root rot disease with 42.00% incidence. Korpad was infected by two diseases i.e. leaf blight caused by Phoma sp. and leaf spot caused by Alternaria alternate. Leaf blight of Sarpagandha and Ashwagandha caused by Alternaria alternata were also detected with maximum intensity of 12.96 and 12.90% respectively. The aromatic plants Tikhadi was infected with Curvulari alunata and Fusarium semitectum. Khus was infected with foot rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii. Colletotrichum, Alternaria and Rhizoctonia were predominant genera causing diseases in medicinal and aromatic plants. Initiation of leaf spot/leaf blight symptoms of medicinal and aromatic plants were observed during July-August, while the incidence of root rot was observed during September-October.