Diseases of Fruit Plantation Medicinal and Aromatic Crops

Gray mold disease

Causal Organism– Botrytis Cinerea.
Symptoms

• The disease often regarded as a fruit rot, starts early in the season as a blossom blight. In the cluster of blossoms on the main fruit stalk, one or more will show blast condition, with the disease extending partly down the pedicel.
• Later, as the berries enlarge, disease may be observed on tips of the calyx lobes, often confined to one or two lobes only.
• Infection on the berries may appear at any point.
• Often rotting on half-grown fruit starts from the base of the fruit and originates from the infected calyx.


Management

• Picking and destroying old blooms and overwintered canes help in reducing the disease.
• Avoiding excess irrigation help in controlling the disease.
• Fungicidal spray with triphenyl tin acetate (Brestan) (0.05 per cent) is effective for its control.
• The disease is effectively controlled by spraying Ferbam (0.2 per cent) or Capton or benomyl (0.1 per cent) or mancozeb (0.2 per cent) on the plants.