Survey and characterization of cabbage head rot incited by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum from major crucifers growing areas of Tamil Nadu
摘要
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) is one of the most popular winter vegetable crops across the world. The cultivation of cabbage is severely hindered by various diseases. Among them, “head rot or white mold” is a potential threat to cabbage cultivation and production. Head rot is the only disease that occurs both in the field as well as in storage conditions. A survey was conducted during 2019–2020 in major crucifers growing areas of Tamil Nadu. The disease incidence was recorded in all the major districts such as Narasipuram village of Coimbatore district, Ketti, Muthorai, Emerald, Palada, Kappathorai and Nanjanadu village of The Nilgiri district, Poombarai, Vilpatti and Thadiyankudisai area of Dindigul district surveyed. The highest incidence (72.1%) was recorded in the Nanjanadu area of the Nilgiris district. The lowest incidence (10.1%) was recorded in Narasipuram village of Coimbatore district. The pathogen was identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum morphologically as well as molecularly using specific (SSFWD and SSREV) universal primers (ITS 1 and 4) with an amplicon size of approximately 280 bp and 580 bp respectively. All the isolates were sequenced and using accession numbers the phylogenetic tree was constructed to understand the genetic relationships among the isolates.