Diseases of

Pomegranate
Submitted to: Dr. M.L.N.Nandhini, Submitted by: Batch 12
Asst.professor,
211FW01015
VFSTRU.
211FW01023

211FW01060

211FW01068
 Table of contents
Cercospora leafspot Anthracnose
01 02

Bacterial leafspot Case study

03 04
 Cercospora leafspot
● Cercospora punicae
● On leaves the spots are irregular reddish brown spots of
various sizes with yellow halo spots ,which may be few to
numerous.
● These are non slimy spots. Minute, circular, black spots appear
on sepals of the flower. Fruit spots on lower side are sunken
with clusters of spore bearing structures hence greyish in
colour.
● Fruit spots are black, minute and circular on rind. On fruit, the
spots resemble bacterial blight lesions but are darker black,
discrete, of various sizes without cracks and no stickiness.
● When grow old, become large, irregularly circular and
depressed presenting an ugly look to the fruits.
 Disease cycle and Management
Disease cycle:
 Survive as mycelium in shoots, fruits and leaves
 Secondary spread through wind borne conidia.
Management:
o The diseased fruits should be collected and destroyed.
o Two to three spraying at 15 days interval of Dithane M-45 or Captan @ 2.5 g in one
litre of water after fruit formation gives good control of the disease
 Anthracnose
● Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
● The fungus causes a wide range of symptoms, depending on the tissue
attacked and the weather.
● Very small sunken spots of various colors appear on leaves, stems,
flowers or fruits, often surrounded by a more or less marked yellow halo.
● On leaves, the spots later enlarge to form lesions and can cover a major
part of the blades.
● They turn yellow and can shed prematurely leading to defollation. Spots
on fruits are brown to dark brown, first circular, then irregular as they
expand.
● The fruit later softens and rot develops in the arils which turn dark gray
or black but are not watery. Anthracnose also can attack twigs and
branches and results in cankers, which are areas of sunken, infected
tissue with swollen edges.
 Disease cycle and Management
Disease cycle:
 Survives as acervuli in infected plants
 Spread by wind born conidia.
Management:
● Use healthy plant material from certified sources.
● Use toleran varieties available in your area
● Keep sufficient space between the plants to ensure good ventilation.
● Provide a good drainage to the fields and do not use overhead irrigation
● Fertilize after the leaves are open and the spring rains have stopped
● Fertilize your crop properly to avoid impact on yield
 Bacterial leaf spot
● Xanthomonas axanopodis pv. punicae
● Small, circular, water-soaked spots appear on the leaves, which later
turn brown and necrotic. The spots may coalesce and form larger
lesions.
● In severe cases, the infected leaves may turn yellow and fall off the
plant, leading to defoliation.
● Infected twigs turn brown or black and may wilt, causing dieback of
the affected branches.
● Small, dark, sunken spots appear on the fruit surface, which can
enlarge, cover the whole fruit surface and cause the fruit to crack or
split open.
● The bacteria can cause the formation of gum-like exudates on the
surface of infected tissues.
 Disease cycle and Management
Disease cycle:
 Pathogen survives on fallen leaves, twigs etc.
 Spread by rain splashed bacterial cells.
Management:
● Use disease-free planting material.
● Use disinfectant pruning tools and equipment.
● Remove and destroy infected plant parts.
● Avoid overhead irrigation to reduce the spread of the disease.
● Use resistant varieties like GANESH.
● For this, following pruning, apply Streptocyclin or Streptomycin sulphate (0.2 gm/lit water) or
Bactinash (0.5 gm/lit water) + Copper oxy chloride (2 gm/lit water) to the basal trunk of
susceptible plants to decrease the occurrence of the disease
New novel fungicides for management of
anthracnose of pomegranate caused by
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
CASE STUDY
 Abstract
Management of pomegranate anthracnose has been critical and essential part of cultivation in every
pomegranate orchard. Often this fungal disease management was done using fungicides as no resistant
cultivars are available. But frequent sprays of fungicides have posed threats of high fungicide resides.
Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the new and novel fungicide (combi
product) molecule with two different modes of action along with already recommended single mode of
action fungicides. The experiment was done for two years and found that foliar spray of Aoxystrobin
8.3%+Mancozeb 66.7 percent at 3.5 gm/l was most effective with lowest mean Percent Disease Index
(PDI) of 4.90 percent. This treatment also had the highest disease control (88.5%) compared to other
treatments. Same fungicide at 3 g/l was also found effective and on par with 3.5 g/l dosage. This
fungicide is of dual mode of action and has an advantage of delaying the development of resistance by
the pathogen towards the fungicide. Due to its dual mode of action the spray frequencies will also get
reduced due to prolonged effect of the fungicide.
 Conclusion
● The new and novel fungicides is very effective in reducing the anthracnose
disease of pomegranate and shall help in reducing the number of sprays
required with its dual mode of action.