Diseases of Fruit Plantation Medicinal and Aromatic Crops

Diseases of Coffee

Introduction
Coffee has a place of pride among the plantation crops in India & mainly cultivated in the hilly tracts of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu and to a lesser extent in non-traditional areas like Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and North Eastern states. Arabica & Robusta are the two economic species of Coffee commercially cultivated in India. Arabica occupies an area of 1, 27,934 ha. with an average productivity of 730 Kg/ha. while Robusta is grown on 1, 42,887 ha. With an average productivity of 732 Kg/ha. Coffee being an export oriented commodity, contributes nearly Rs.1, 400 crores of foreign exchange exchequer annually. As an agro based rural enterprise this industry is a primarily source of direct employment to about 4 lakhs persons in the area of cultivation, besides, providing indirect employment to several other people in the processing and trading centers.
In India, though coffee is susceptible to several fungal diseases of economic importance, viral & bacterial diseases have not been reported so far. Among the two commercially cultivated species, Arabica coffee is more susceptible than Robusta. Leaf rust, black rot, pink disease, anthracnose, root diseases, berry blotch, collar rot & brown-eye-spot are the important diseases which need regular plant protection measures for improved crop production.
Integrated Disease Management (IDM) is considered as a mean of control in which suitable methods are used in a compatible manner that minimizes the pesticide use and to maintain the pathogen population level below economic damage. Most of the IDM components are generally practiced for the effective management of important diseases of coffee.