Survival of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, the causal organism of anthracnose disease of black pepper

Abstract

Survival of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz) Penz., & Sacco the causal organism of anthracnose disease of black pepper was studied at the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Trivandrum, Kerala. The naturally infected black pepper leaves and spikes of the variety Karimunda collected from black pepper gardens were buried in soil and another set kept in brown paper bags under laboratory conditions to study the mode of survival of the fungus. Samples were taken from these two sets periodically and plated on PDA. Viable colonies of C. gloeosporioides were obtained up to 90 days in the case of infected plant parts buried in the soil and up to 150 days in the case of infected materials kept in paper bags. The results indicate that the black pepper anthracnose fungus can survive on the infected leaves and spikes or in the soil and hence warrants strict phytosanitation to reduce the disease incidence.