Bacterial diseases in Plants

Booklet No. 302 Plant Disease Control: PDCS-2

Contents Preface I. Introduction II. Common Bacterial Diseases A. Blights B. Soft rots C. Leaf Spots D. Tumours and galls E. Cankers F. Vascular diseases III Diseases of Cereal Crops A. Bacterial leaf blight of rice B. Bacterial leaf streak of rice C. Bacterial rot of wheat ears D. Stalk rot of maize IV. Diseases of Cash Crops A. Bacterial blight of cotton B. Ratoon stunting of sugarcane C. Red stripe of sugarcane V. Diseases of Tuber Crops A. Common scab of potato B. Bacterial brown rot of potato C. Black leg and soft rot of potato VI. Diseases of Horticultural Crops A. Citrus canker B. Citrus greening disease C. Leaf spot of mango Preface Plants are the most important source of food for man. They are the basic unit of all the agricultural products available. Plant diseases are said to occur due to various infestations. This causes a serious damage on the productivity of food. This loss can occur during storage and also any time during the growth period. This booklet describes important diseases in plants caused by various species of bacteria. Dr. KT. Chandy, Agricultural & Environmental Education I. Introduction Man is dependent on plants and its sources for his food. Plant diseases have been said to cause a serious damage on its productivity and hence, thereby, causes food shortage and famine. When a plant is suffering from any nutrient deficiency symptom or any pathogen or pest attack we call it diseased. Disease may be defined as an alteration in one or more of the ordered sequential series of physiological process culminating in a loss of coordination of

energy utilization in a plant as a result of the continuous irritation from the presence or absence of some factor or agent. Plant diseases are important because of the loss they cause. The loss can occur in the field or in the store and at any time between sowing and consumption of the harvest. A pathogen is constantly associated with a disease. The word 'pathogen' can be broadly defined as any agent or factor that invites 'pathos' or disease in an organism. II. Common Bacterial Diseases Like fungal diseases, the bacterial diseases also produce different types of symptoms depending upon the species, host-parasite relationship and environment. These diseases may be grouped into following categories. A. Blights The invasion by the bacterium leads to very rapid and extensive necrosis of the affected plant parts resulting in scorched appearance of the host. B. Soft rots The major effect of this is softening of the tissues due to disintegration of cells and dissolution of middle lamella, as a result of enzyme action. Very often a dirty liquid oozes out of the affected parts. In many cases the disintegration is preceded by the change of colour. C. Leaf spots When a specific bacterium invades the leaf through stomata, the necrosis of the tissues around the sub-stomatal spaces results in the appearance of necrotic areas on the lamina surface. The dead tissues appear brown or water-soaked and the spots usually remain restricted in growth. D. Tumours and galls In many bacterial diseases, the effect of invasion by the pathogen is hyperlasia and hypertrophy of invaded tissues. As a result, tumours develop on the affected organs. Crown gall (caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens) is the best known and most extensively studied disease in this group. E. Cankers Cankers or warty outgrowth are formed on leaves, twigs, and fruits. They result from necrosis of the tissues and reaction of undamaged tissues to produce cork cells. F. Vascular diseases In some of the bacterial leaf spot diseases, the organism moves into the vascular system and becomes systemic. In others, the invasion is concentrated in the vascular tissues causing, typical wilt of the plant by plugging the water conducting vessels and by production of toxins. III. Diseases of Cereal Crops Cereals are the most important food crops in agriculture. They are attacked by a number of bacterial disease. The important ones are described here. A. Bacterial leaf blight of rice Bacterial leaf blight of rice is a disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzicola. It has been known to occur in rice since 1881. During the last 20 years its incidence in severe form has

been reported from India. In India, the disease is a serious problem In the tarai region of Uttar Pradesh. The disease is a typical vascular wilt, leaf blight being only the wild phase resulting from secondary infections, Damage is due to the partial or total blighting of the leaves or due to complete wilting of the affected tillers leading to unfilled grains. Symptoms: The blight phase is characterized by linear yellow to straw coloured stripes with wavy margin, generally on both edges of the leaf and rarely on one edge. These stripes usually start from the tip and extend downwards. Leaf blight phase is more commonly seen. The blighting may extend to the leaf sheaths and culms, killing the tiller or the whole clump, In dry weather, opaque and turbid drops of bacteria ooze which dry into yellowish heads and can be seen on the leaf surface. Blight phase appears six weeks after transplanting. The most destructive form of the disease in the tropics is 'kresek' or wilt phase resulting from early systemic infection or from infected seed and the bacterium brought in contact with germinating seedlings. The leaves roll completely, droop, turn yellow or grey and ultimately the tillers wither away. Control 1. Application of Streptocyclin for seed treatment and foliar spray. 2. Soaking of seeds for 12 hours in 0.025% water solution of Agrimycin and plus 0.05% wettable Ceresan and then transferring the seed to hot water at 52 -530 C for 30 minutes. 3. Growing of resistant varieties such as N-22, IR -20, IR-22, Ratna, etc. B. Bacterial leaf streak of rice Bacterial leaf streak disease of rice is caused by Xanthomonas oryzicola. It is a major disease of rice in several Asian countries, In India, it is prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. Symptoms It is a foliar disease. The first sign of the disease is the appearance of fine, and transluscent interveinal streaks which may be as long as 1-10 centimeter. Minute yellow or amber beads of bacterial exudates are abundant on these streaks. When these heads dry, streaks of rough pustules may be felt on the leaf. The infection may reach the leaf sheath and even the seed coat but symptoms are not very clear. Control 1. Soaking of seeds in 0.025% Streptocyclin and hot water treatment at 520 C for 30 minutes. 2. Spraying of vitavax at 0.15 -0.3 per cent. C. Bacterial rot of wheat ears This disease is also known as yellow ear rot or tundu disease of wheat. This disease is caused by Calvibacter tritici. In India, it was first reported from Punjab in the year 1917. It is usually associated with ear cockle disease (caused by the nematode Anguina triticl). Symptoms Wrinkling of the lower, and twisting of the central leaves is the first symptom of this disease. This is accompanied by the exudation of a bright yellow sticky slime enveloping the entire ear. In wet weather, the slime starts trickling down but in dry weather it becomes deep yellow in colour. The disease appears only when the crop is reaching maturity.

Control 1. Sowing of wheat seeds that are free from nematode galls. 2. The galls can be removed by floating the seed in brine (40 lbs salt in 25 gallons of water). 3. Affected plants should be located, uprooted and burnt. D. Stalk rot of maize Stalk rot of maize is a disease is caused by Erwinia chrysanthemi. In India, it is fairly destructive in areas of high rainfall such as tarai region of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Kashmir. Symptoms It occurs on young as well as old plants. The rot occurs at the lower nodes and passes up and down the stalk to a very limited extent. The stalk becomes soft and pliable affected plants topple down rapidly. With the advance of stalk rot, leaves may start yellowing and drying. Ear shoots and crops occasionally get infected which then droop down and hang. Control . 1. Accumulation of water around stalks should be avoided. 2. Two applications of Chlorocin containing 22% chlorine as soil drench @ 25 kg/ha, first before flowering and second one 10 days after. IV. Diseases of Cash Crops Cash crops suffer heavy economic losses due to bacterial diseases. The important bacterial diseases of this group of crops are described here. A. Bacterial blight of cotton! The Bacterial blight or angulax leaf spot or black arm of cotton is a disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris. It is the most serious bacterial disease of this crop. It is found in all the major cotton growing regions of the world, In India the disease was first observed in 1918 and is now known to occur in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Symptoms The bacterium attacks all the aerial plant parts at different stages of plant growth. The earliest symptom is seen in germinating seeds. Minute, water-soaked spots appear on the under-surface of the cotyledons. These later on increase in diameter, turn brown to black and form irregular patches distorting the shape of the cotyledons causing them to dry and wither. The disease spreads to new leaves formed and the seedling may ultimately collapse and die. Often the disease spreads along the edge of the veins, hence, called vein blight or black vein. Lesions on stem, petioles, and fruiting branches are dark, brown to sooty black. They are elongated and sunken. The affected stems show cracks and gummosis and are easily broken by wind or there may be girdling and death of affected organs. These are the black arm symptoms. On the bolls or fruits, the disease is characterized by the appearance of water soaked lesions on the surface. These lesions turn dark brown and finally black, and are invariably sunken,. Young infected bolls fall down prematurely. The bacterium may remain alive in dried leaves. for 17 years and in dry or moist soil for 8 days at 21 33o Centigrade. High humidity and moderate temperature (28C) favour development of the disease.

Control 1. Treat the seed with a mixture of fungicide MEMC and antibiotic Agrimycin. 2. Spray the crop with copper fungicides such as Blitox or Fytolan @ 2 kg/ha in 1000 litres of water. 3. Collect and destroy plant debris at the end of the season. B. Ratoon stunting of sugarcane The causal organism of this disease is Calvibacter zyli. It is believed that one of the major causes of degeneration, deterioration or "running down" of several commercial varieties of sugarcane is due to the ratoon stunting disease (RSD) which is found not only in India but also at least in 40 other countries that grow sugarcane. Symptoms The ratoon stunting disease of sugarcane equally affects main crop as well as ratoon crops. Diseased stools show stunted growth, reduced tillering, thin cases with shortened internodes and yellowish leaves. Germinability of diseased seeds is low. Typical symptoms of RSD are seen only after splitting open the sugarcane longitudinally. Two types of discolouration can be seen in the pith. In mature canes, there is orange red colouration of vascular bundles of the nodes. In young canes pink colour can be seen near the nodes. However, many varieties are symptomless carrier and the presence of RSD can be detected only by using indicator sugarcane varieties or other hosts. Control 1. Use seed sets from healthy crop. 2. The hot air treatment of cane seed at 54C for 8 hours is effective in destroying the causal organism. 3. Diseased crop should not be selected for ratooning. C. Red stripe of sugarcane The red stripe of sugarcane is a disease caused by Xanthomonas rubrilineans. The disease is common in all the sugarcane growing parts of the world. In India, it was first reported in the year 1933. Its occurrence has been reported in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Symptoms The disease first appears as water soaked elongated streaks which soon become chlorotic and carry dark red strips which are 0.5 -1 mm in width 5 -100 mm or more in length. Sometimes two or more strips coalesce to form larger bands. The lower half of the leaf is more severely affected than the tip. When young shoots are affected, symptoms of top rot appear. The growing point of the shoot shows many dark-red strips, bears water-soaked appearance and undergoes rotting. Control 1. Rogue out the affected tops of the canes and burn them. 2. Select well drained fields for cane planting. V. Diseases of Tuber Crops Some of the bacterial diseases which reduce the yield of the tuber crops are mentioned below.

A. Common scab of potato Common scab of Potato is a disease caused by Streptomyces scabies. It is of worldwide occurrence. Since 1980, this disease has become widespread in the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The greatest loss from the disease is the reduction in market value of tubers due to rough and blemished skin. Symptoms There are two types of lesions formed on the tuber (l) the shallow scab and (2) the deep scab. In shallow scab, the affected tubers show superficial roughened areas, sometimes raised above and often slightly below the plane of the healthy skin. The lesions consist of corky tissues which arise from abnormal proliferation of the cells of the tuber periderm due to attack of the pathogen. In deep pitted scab the lesions measure 1 -3 mm or more in depth and are darker than the lesions in shallow scab. They are also corky and may join together so that the entire tuber surface becomes affected. Control 1. Tubers with deep lesions should not be used for seed. 2. The tubers can be disinfected by dipping them for 5 minutes in 0.25% suspension of Emisan -6, Agallol 6 or Aretan. B. Bacterial brown rot of potato Bacterial brown rot or wilt disease of Potato is caused by Pseudomonas solanacearum. In many areas it is locally called 'bangle' or 'bangal' disease due to tuber symptoms. This disease is common mostly in tropical and subtropical regions where temperature and moisture conditions are favourable for its development. Apart from solanaceous crops this disease also attacks a large number of other cultivated and wild plants like castor, groundnut, banana and ginger. It has been reported from Mysore, Madhya Pradesh, Marathawada region of Maharashtra and West Bengal. Symptoms The characteristic symptoms of the disease are wilting, stunting and yellow refers to the browning of the xylem in the vascular bundles. This browning is often visible from the surface of the infected stems as dark patches or streaks. The name ring disease is derived from the fact that a brown ring is formed in the tube; due to discoloration of the vascular bundles. The skin of infected tubers is often discoloured. In severely affected tubers, the eye buds are blackened. Control 1. Certified seed free from brown rot disease may be planted. 2. Apply sulphur @ 448 kg/ha followed by application of lime @ 1345 kg/ha after three months. After applying lime, the land is left fallow for 2 -3 crop seasons. 3. The wilted plants found in the field should be properly buried in the pits. 4. Resistant varieties should be grown. 5. When cut potato tubers are being used for seed, they should be kept at 12C tor four days so that the cut surface hardens. The tubers can also be treated with Aretan or Agallol. C. Black leg and soft rot of potato Two bacteria are recognized as the causal organism of potato black leg and tuber soft rot. They are Erwinia carotovora subspecies carotovora and Erwinia Carotovora atroseptice. In

potatoes, these bacteria not only cause soft rot of tubers but also black leg and wilt of plants in the field. In India it is found in all potato growing areas. Symptoms 'Black-leg' is characterized by a striking brown black or jet black colour of the stem at the soil level. This discolouration usually starts from the old seed tubers: This disease appears sporadically in the field. The foliage turns light green or yellow, with a slight metallic luster, and soon wilts and dies. Sometimes young seedlings arising from diseased seed tubers are destroyed before or soon after emergence. In soft rot tubers which occur in the field when soil is moist and temperature is high or during transit and storage. The tubers are transformed partly or totally, slowly or quickly, into a soft decayed pulpy mass. When a soft rot tuber is cut open the colourless putrid mass turns pink red on exposure to air, rapidly becoming brownish-red to brown-black. The cut tubers have a slight smell also. Control 1. The wounding and bruishing of tubers should be minimised at the time of harvest. 2. The cut tubers should be dipped in Aretan or Agallol. 3. Rotten tubers should not be left in the fields. These may be properly buried in the pits. 4. Wash the tubers with chlorinated water before storage. VI. Diseases of Horticultural Crops The important bacterial disease of horticultural crops are described here along with their suitable control measures. A. Citrus canker Citrus canker is a disease caused by Xanthomonas cirri. It is a widespread disease in all the citrus growing areas of the, world. This disease is quite serious in India, China, Japan and Java. Symptoms Citrus canker occurs on leaves, twigs, thorns, older branches and fruits. Leaf lesions first appear as small, round, watery, and translucent spots. These are raised and become yellowish brown. They first develop on the lower surface of the leaf and then both the surfaces are affected. As the disease advances, the surface of the spots becomes white or greyish and finally ruptures in the centre giving a rough, corky, and crater-like appearance. These lesions are surrounded by a yellowish-brown to green raised margin and watery yellow halo. Cankers on fruits are similar to those on leaves except that the yellow halo is absent and a water-like depression in the centre is more prominent. The injury to fruits is only skin deep and no effect on the pulp or juice is noticed. Cankers on twigs cause them to break. Control 1. Use disease- free nursery stock for planting in new orchard. 2. Spraying the plants with 1 % Bordeux mixture before planting in new orchard. 3. Spraying of 1 % Bordeux mixture in old orchard during rainy season.

4. Spraying of Streptomycin at 500 -1000 ppm concentration at 15 days interval. 5. Spraying of neem cake @ 160 kg/ha effectively checks this disease. 6. Use of resistant varieties. B. Citrus greening disease The citrus greening was first considered a virus disease, then, it was thought to be caused by a mycoplasma like organism (MLO). Later on, the scientists reported that the disease was caused by a phloem-inhabiting fastidious bacterium with double membranous cellwall, distinct from MLO cells. The citrus greening organism is transmitted through vegetative propagation by two species namely Diaphorina citri and Trioza erytreae. It is more prevalent in North and Central India. Symptoms The infected plant shows chlorosis of leaves resembling zinc deficiency (sometimes dotted with green islands), thickening of leaf blade, shortening of twig internodes, off- season blooming, leaf shedding and die back. The chlorosis usually is bound on one side of the midrib and on another side by a lateral vein. The chlorosis diffuses towards the leaf margin. Fruits of the infected trees are usually small sized, misshaped and remain green for longer period. They also contain curved columellas aborted seeds and fall prematurely. Control 1. All the diseased plants should be removed from the orchard. 2. Eradication of citrus pyrlla by regular spraying of insecticides such as Diazinon (0.02%), Endrin (0.02%) or Parathion (0.02%) reduces spread of the disease by the vector. 3. Spraying a mixture of Bavistin and Ledermycin (500 ppm each), six times at 10 days interval. C. Leaf spot of mango Leaf spot of mango is a disease, caused by Xantltomonas compestris pv. mangiferae indici. This disease has been known in India since 1881, but was first reported in 1948 trom Maharashtra. Symptoms Minute water-soaked lesions appear in groups towards the tip of the leaf blade. They increase in size to about 1-4 mm, turn thrown to black in colour and are surrounded by chlorotic halos. They are surrounded by the veins. Large necrotic patches may be formed by coalescing of several lesions. These patches sometimes dry up. The patches are often rough and raise due to heavy bacterial exudates. Petioles, fruits and tender stems may also be infected. On young fruits water soaked lesions appear and turns dark brown to black. Cracks may appear in the skin of the fruit. Badly affected fruits drop prematurely. Control No specific control measures have yet been developed' against this disease. %%%%%%%%%