High relative humidity and higher temperatures favour the development of fruit rot disease.
In severe cases, fruit rot can cause up to 50–60% yield loss.
Damage Symptoms:
Circular to irregular, greyish-brown spots with light centres appear on diseased leaves.
The diseased leaves become yellowish and may drop off. Several black pycnidia are seen on older spots.
The lesions on the stem are dark brown, round to oval, and have greyish centres where pycnidia develop.
At the base of the stem, the fungus causes canker development and toppling of plants.
On fruits, small pale, sunken spots appear, which, on enlargement, cover the entire fruit surface. These spots become watery, followed by rotting. Infected fruits emit a foul odour.
Preventive Measures:
Removal and destruction of diseased crop debris.
Practising crop rotation and summer ploughing helps reduce initial inoculum.
Control Measures:
Seed treatment with thiophanate methyl at 1g/kg seed.
Spraying with thiophanate methyl or carbendazim at 0.1% twice at 20-day intervals.
