Sorghum Diseases in India
Sorghum Diseases in India
Sorghum Diseases in India
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Table 1. Forage sorghum production <strong>in</strong> Japan<br />
from 1976 to 1985. 1<br />
Table 1. Forage sorghum production <strong>in</strong> Japan<br />
from 1976 to 1985. 1<br />
Area Production<br />
Year ('000 ha) ('000 t)<br />
1976 19.3 1 334<br />
1977 21.3 1 530<br />
1978 27.2 1 847<br />
1979 30.0 2 144<br />
1981 36.9 2 534<br />
1982 37.5 2 496<br />
1983 37.3 2 547<br />
1984 36.2 2 492<br />
1985 35.5 2 385<br />
1. Source: Japan: M<strong>in</strong>istry of Agriculture, Forestry and<br />
Fisheries, (1986).<br />
The sorghum breed<strong>in</strong>g program <strong>in</strong> Japan was<br />
<strong>in</strong>itiated at the Chugoku National Agricultural<br />
Experiment Station from 1962 to 1971 and at two<br />
government-funded stations set up <strong>in</strong> Prefectural<br />
Agricultural Experiment Stations. At these<br />
stations, major emphasis is placed on improv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
yield, palatability and digestibility, tolerance to<br />
low temperatures, and resistance to lodg<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
bird <strong>in</strong>jury, pests, and diseases.<br />
<strong>Diseases</strong> of <strong>Sorghum</strong> <strong>in</strong> Japan<br />
As <strong>in</strong> the case of many other crops of which the<br />
cultivation has been <strong>in</strong>tensified, sorghum <strong>in</strong> Japan<br />
has recently developed disease problems.<br />
The major diseases (Table 2) are leaf blight, anthracnose,<br />
zonate leaf spot, target leaf spot, banded<br />
leaf and sheath blight, bacterial leaf stripe.<br />
Two of these, yellow spot (Cercospora koepkei)<br />
and hayake-byou (Kabatiella sorghi), do not appear<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Compendium of <strong>Sorghum</strong> <strong>Diseases</strong><br />
published by the American Pathological Society<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1986. Symptoms and agents of these diseases<br />
are outl<strong>in</strong>ed as follows:<br />
Hayake-byou<br />
This disease, caused by Kabatiella sorghi (Nishihara<br />
and Yokoyama 1971), occurs <strong>in</strong> many areas<br />
of Japan.<br />
Symptoms. The disease occurs ma<strong>in</strong>ly on leaf<br />
blades and rarely on leaf sheath, stems, and<br />
32<br />
heads. The symptoms consist of large numbers<br />
of small circular, elliptical, or sp<strong>in</strong>dle-shaped<br />
spots 5 mm across. Lesions are water-soaked<br />
at first, and then become yellowish-brown or<br />
brownish-purple with light yellow haloes. When<br />
the spots are numerous, the whole leaf becomes<br />
brownish-purple and dies prematurely.<br />
Causal organism. The acervuli are <strong>in</strong>dist<strong>in</strong>ct<br />
without setae. Hyal<strong>in</strong>e clavate conidiophores, 10-<br />
20 by 3-5 µm <strong>in</strong> size, emerge from the stomata or<br />
through the epidermis. The conidia are borne <strong>in</strong> a<br />
cluster at the tip of the conidiophore. The conidia<br />
are hyal<strong>in</strong>e, falcate, nonseptate, and from 10-21<br />
by 1.8-3.0 µm <strong>in</strong> size. The fungus is similar to the<br />
corn eyespot fungus [Kabatiella zeae Narita and<br />
Hiratsuka (1959)], but conidia and conidiophore<br />
size and type of parasitism are different.<br />
Yellow spot<br />
This disease of sorghum was first observed <strong>in</strong><br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a prefecture near Tokyo <strong>in</strong> 1940.<br />
Table 2. <strong>Sorghum</strong> diseases recorded <strong>in</strong> Japan.<br />
Common name Causal agent<br />
Viral disease<br />
Sugarcane mosaic Sugarcane mosaic virus<br />
Bacterial disease<br />
Bacterial leaf stripe Pseudomonas<br />
andropogonis<br />
Fungal disease<br />
Anthracnose Colletotrichum<br />
gram<strong>in</strong>icola<br />
Banded leaf and<br />
sheath blight<br />
Rhizoctonia solani<br />
Ergot<br />
Claviceps sp<br />
Gray leaf spot Cercospora sorghi<br />
Leaf blight<br />
Exserohilum turcicum<br />
Rust<br />
Pucc<strong>in</strong>ia purpurea<br />
Covered kernel smut Sporisorium reilianum<br />
Loose kernel smut Spliacelotheca cruenta<br />
Head smut Sporisoriutn sorghi<br />
Sooty stripe Ramulispora sorghi<br />
Southern sclerotial<br />
rot<br />
Sclerotium rolfsii<br />
Target leaf spot Bipolaris cookei<br />
Zonate leaf spot Gloeocercospora sorghi<br />
Hayake-byou Kabatiella sorghi<br />
Yellow spot Cercospora koepkei var sorghi