Vol. 11, Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Madhushri Kerakalamatti, RK Mesta, Noorulla Haveri, Kiran Kumar KC, Shankar Meti, Dr. Patil and Raghavendra G

Abstract:
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of the important fruit crops belongs to the family Lythraceae. Nowadays it is highly threatened by the wilt disease caused by Ceratocystis fimbriata which results in complete wilting of plant and is characterized by the initial symptoms as yellowing and wilting of leaves on one to several branches. The fungus was isolated from standard tissue isolation through carrot bait technique. Ascospores mass that developed on carrot slices were transferred to Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) in petri plates. The wilt fungus C. fimbriata grew well on potato dextrose agar and oat meal agar. The petri dishes were incubated at room temperature (25±1 ⁰C) for 15 days and observed periodically for fungal growth. The morphology of mycelium was whitish grey in the beginning which later changed into brown. As the growth progressed, production of endoconidia, aleurioconidia and perithecium was observed. Perithecia were black with a globose base. Ascospores exuded from the apex of the perithecium neck in a long coil which are small, hat shaped and hyaline. Conidiophores were septate and hyaline to dark greenish brown. Thick walled endoconidia were globose to oval, olive brown in colour. Aleurioconidia were thick walled, ellipsoidal or Pyriform, golden brown in colour, borne singly or in chain.