Identification, Characterization and Molecular Validation of Pokkah Boeng Disease Causal Organism (Fusarium moniliforme) of Sorghum bicolor in Maharashtra.

Among the foliar diseases, Pokkah Boeng disease is one of the major diseases of sugarcane. But now Sorghum bicolor is becoming the host for the same disease. The causal phytopathogen; fusarium moniliforme is widely distributed and brings about great economic loss of crops. Pokkah Boeng is present in most of the sugarcane producing areas of the world and symptoms of the disease tend to develop during period of rapid crop growth especially when rainfall is high. The symptoms are malformed or damaged top and stalk, malformation or distortion of the young leaves are usually accompanied with a distinct wrinkling, twisting and shortening of the leaves. The most serious and advanced stage of Pokkah Boeng is knife cut phase, where the stem gets sharp knife like cut and the plant ultimately dies due to distortion of bridge connections of vascular tissues in the stem region. This is the newly introduced disease in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, during rabi season. We have isolatedand characterized the phytopathogen, Fusarium moniliforme from three different sorghum growing areas in Marathwada regions. The DNA was isolated by Cenis protocoland causal organism was validated at molecular level by PCR amplification with genus and species specific primers.