Prevalence of fungal diseases in medicinally important Cassia alata L. under tropical conditions on the coromandel coast, India

International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science

© 2017 by SSRG - IJAES Journal

Volume 4 Issue 4

Year of Publication : 2017

Authors : Savitha Veeraragavan, Ramamoorthy Duraisamy, Sudhakaran Mani

10.14445/23942568/IJAES-V4I4P114

How to Cite?

Savitha Veeraragavan, Ramamoorthy Duraisamy, Sudhakaran Mani, "Prevalence of fungal diseases in medicinally important Cassia alata L. under tropical conditions on the coromandel coast, India," SSRG International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science, vol. 4,  no. 4, pp. 79-85, 2017. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942568/IJAES-V4I4P114

Abstract:

Present investigation is focused on fungal infection and consequent disease prevalence in a commercially important plant Cassia alata L., profusely growing in and around Pondicherry region covering four seasons in 2015. Observation and collection of infected leaves, flower buds and pods are done monthly infected leaves and flower buds are subject to culture adopting suitable methods. The common fungal diseases recorded in leaves of C. alata are leaf spot disease and Anthracnose and fungal species namely slimy Aureobasidium, two species of Aspergillus, Rhizopus sp. Alternaria sp. are recorded from these infected plant parts. One of the important results obtained from the present study is that cut ends of the leaves made by folivory insects are found to be infected by the fungi whereas the cut ends of the leaves left by caterpillars are not infected. Relevant photographs in support of fungal disease are also given. The report includes information on the progress of leaf spot and Anthracnose in leaves- stage with photographs which is considered as an important useful input for commercial cultivators in disease management. The uniqueness/ highlight of this work includes one interesting observation that the cut ends of the leaves left by the caterpillars are not infected with fungal species even under ambient climate. This opens up a new avenue in the field of bioactive compounds from caterpillars particularly of the migrant butterfly, Catopsilia pyranthe. Taxonomic authentication of the host plant Cassia alata is also done by the molecular method and obtained NCBI Accession number after submitting sequences.

Keywords:

Cassia alata L., Anthracnose, caterpillar, mouth secretion, bio-prospecting

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