Sorghum Diseases in India

escent pigment is not produced on King's Medium
B (KB) (King et al. 1954). Smooth, round,
and cream-colored colonies are formed on yeast
extract-glucose-calcium carbonate media
(YDCA). Acid is produced from arabinose, fructose,
galactose, glucose, and myo-Inositol. The
bacterium can utilize citrate (weak) and malonate
as sole sources of carbon. Hydrolysis of gelatin
and starch are negative. The organism fails
to grow at 4°C and 41 °C. Arginine dihydrolase,
lipase production, nitrate reduction, and oxidase
production are negative. P. andropogonis elicits a
hypersensitive response on tobacco (Claflin and
Ramundo, unpublished).
Host range
Hosts, other than sorghum, reported to be susceptible
to P. andropogonis include Johnson grass
and maize (Vidaver and Carlson 1978); velvet
bean (Burkholder 1957); clover (Hayward 1972);
teosinte, soybean, and chickpea (Caruso 1984);
white clover (Gitaitis et al. 1983); red clover,
alfalfa, snapbean, red kidney bean, broadbean,
lespedeza, vetch, bougainvillea (Rothwell and
Hayward 1964); blueberry, carob, Gypsophila paniculata,
and statice (Moffett et al. 1986), and
sugarcane (Claflin and Ramundo, unpublished).
Bacterial leaf stripe has been diagnosed in sorghum
areas of North and South America, Africa,
Europe, USSR, China, India, southeast Asia, and
the South Pacific (Commonwealth Mycological
Institute 1973).
Symptoms
Bacterial stripe symptoms consist of linear interveinal
lesions that are purple, tan, red, or yellow,
depending upon the host reaction (Fig. 1). Bacterial
exudate is often observed on the abaxial side
of the leaf. Lesions may also be found on the
peduncle, rachis branches, seeds, and in the interior
of the stalk. If warm wea-ther and high relative
humidity persists, lesions may extend
Figure 1. Bacterial stripe on sorghum cv B 35-6 caused by Pseudomonas andropogonis.
137