1Department of Plant Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur-482004, Madhya Pradesh, India
2Project Coordinated Unit, All India Coordinated Research Project on Sesame and Niger (ICAR), India
*Corresponding author e-mail: Kailash Narayan Gupta (kngupta1@rediffmail.com)
Online published on 5 March, 2025.
Phyllody is an important disease in the sesame growing area of Madhya Pradesh, India. This study carried out impact of weather parameters-temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall-on the incidence of phyllody disease and the population of its insect vector. It was verified that minimum temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall were significantly negatively correlated with disease incidence and leafhopper population, while maximum temperature showed a positive, though statistically nonsignificant, correlation. The highest disease incidence (22.2%) and leafhopper population (5.8 per leaf) occurred during week 45 when the temperatures were moderate, but the relative humidity was low This indicates that specific weather conditions, particularly lower humidity and higher minimum temperatures, might favour the disease spread and the insect vector population. The study concludes that effective management of sesame phyllody disease could benefit from monitoring these key weather parameters to predict disease outbreaks and implement timely interventions.
Phytoplasma disease, Management, Disease incidence
