Diseases of fruit plantation medicinal and aromatic crops (2+1)

Leaf spot disease

Casual Organism – Mycospharella fragariae.
Symptoms

• Leaf spot is most frequently evident on the blades of the leaflets, but may appear on the petioles, fruit and fruit stems.
• The lesions may be seen first on the upper surface as small, deep-purple, somewhat indefinite areas.
• As the spot enlarges, the central area becomes brown, which soon turns to a definite white spot in older leaves or light brown in young tender leaves.
• An indefinite, dark purple zone surrounds the central light area, giving the hole a bird’s-eys effect.
• When infections are bunched on the leaf, the purplish area may become confluent and extend around a number of white spots, and if infection occurs near the edge of leaflet, purpling often extends to the border.
• On the undersurface part of the leaf, symptoms are much the same as on the upper, but coloring is less intense.
• Here the prominent veins which are touched by any of the spots take on a reddish-purple color that extends some distance beyond the infected spots.


Life cycle
Management
• Curing of planting material
• Caprtonbal @ 13kg/ha as soil application
• Copper Oxy chloride (0.3%) or Carbendazim (0.1%) sprays