1Department of Natural Resource Management, College of Horticulture, University of Horticultural Sciences Campus, GKVK, Bengaluru-560 065, Karnataka, India
2Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, University of Horticultural Sciences Campus, GKVK, Bengaluru-560 065, Karnataka, India
Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, University of Horticultural Sciences Campus, GKVK, Bengaluru-560 065, Karnataka, India
*E-mail: shankarappath@gmail.com
Online published on 7 December, 2023.
A survey work was carried out to determine the incidence of fungal wilt of tomato in three Southern districts of Karnataka viz. Bengaluru rural, Chikkaballapur and Kolar during the cropping season in 2019-20. Incidence of fungal wilt in these districts ranged between 8.68 to 13.03 per cent, with a mean incidence of 11.25%. Highest incidence of fungal wilt was observed in Chikkballapur district followed Kolar, whereas the lowest incidence was recorded in Bengaloru rural district. During the survey, symptoms of the disease observed was typical yellowing and vein clearing of lower leaves, stunting, necrosis, discoloration and wilting. The symptoms moved upwards with the gradual upward extension of the pathogen and discoloration of the vascular tissue of stems and roots and also the entire plant got affected and finally dried. Fungal wilt pathogen isolated on PDA was identified to be Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Sacc.). The pathogen cultures could produce diverse colors and exhibited two types of conidia i.e. macro and micro conidia, could grow between 10°C and 35°C and produced abundant spores at 28 °C.
Tomato, Fungal wilt, Characterization, Fusarium oxysporum
