Sorghum Diseases in India

Each member of the discussion group was asked
to develop a table for his or her country, with the
17 diseases on a vertical column and the seven
criteria on the top of the table, and match each of
the 17 diseases with each of the seven criteria,
using the 1-to-3 scale.
These tables were analyzed by multiplying
each disease rating by the numerical rating
(multiplication factor) of the corresponding criterium
to which it was matched. In that way a
set of values indicating the importance of a disease
in a given region was obtained.
It was thought that this procedure was a
more objective approach to determination of the
research priorities of the 17 diseases listed.
The results obtained by grouping individual
tables into regions for the six important diseases
are given below. The diseases are listed below in
order of priority based on the average numerical
value obtained.
A. Western Africa:
1. Striga spp
2. Grain mold
3. Long smut
4. Anthracnose
5. Gray leaf spot
6. Sooty stripe
B. Eastern Africa:
342
10. Bacterial stripe
11. Ergot
12. Head smut
13. Long smut
14. Covered smut
15. Loose smut
16. Nematodes
17. Striga spp
The criteria and their numerical ranking from
the least to the most important follow:
Criteria Rating
Health hazard 1
Farming system
2
Method of spread/overseasoning
3
Pathogen variability
4
Lack of control methods
5
Prevalence/distribution 6
Effect of yield/quality 7
1. Striga spp
2. Anthracnose
3. Covered smut
4. Leaf blight
5. Loose smut
6. Grain mold
C. Southern Africa:
1. Grain mold
2. Leaf blight
3. Anthracnose
4. Covered smut
5. Ergot
6. Downy mildew
Group 2:
Priority Diseases in Sorghum and Infrastructure
for Research in the Americas and Europe
Chairperson: R. R. Duncan
Rapporteurs: L. E. Claflin
G. Forbes
Attendees: Craig
Frederiksen
McGee
Narro
Odvody
Rosenow
Toler
Foliar diseases:
1. Anthracnose
2. Gray leaf spot (USA), ladder spot (USA, Brazil),
leaf blight (USA, Mexico), bacterial
stripe (Argentina), bacterial streak (Mexico
and Kansas, and Texas in USA), bacterial
spot (high altitudes, Canada)
3. Rust, sooty stripe, target spot, rough spot,
sheath blights (pink, banded)
Root and stalk rots:
1. Fusarium spp. (F. graminearum more important
than F. moniliforme), charcoal rot
2. Anthracnose red rot
3. Bacterial fungus (Pythium)
4. Acremonium wilt
5. Periconia