Not Available

Not AvailableWilt is an important disease of sugarcane reported nearly 100 years ago in India that was responsible for the elimination of many elite varieties in both tropical and subtropical regions. Cultural, morphological and molecular tools established that Fusarium sacchari is the causal agent. Severe Pokkah boeng (PB) caused by different species of Fusarium such as F. sacchari, F. verticillioides, F.andiyazi, F. subglutinans and F. semitectumdrastically reduced inter nodal elongation of canes. Though both wilt and PB diseases occur independently in the field, now it is recorded that they occur together in the same sugarcane plant. Characterization of Fusarium isolates of wilt and PB affecting sugarcane varieties was done by sequencing TEF1-a gene which has been widely used for species identification. Most of the earlier studies results revealed that F. sacchari is the major causal organism of wilt disease and F. proliferatum and other Fusarium species are associated with pokkah boeng disease. Gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of 48 isolates revealed that 44 isolates of wilt and PB were F. sacchari and the remaining four isolates of PB were F. proliferatum. Wilt and PB isolates of Co 0238 and MS 901 cultivars were only F. sacchari and the several other varieties also exhibited progressive disease severity through different phases of PB and that resulted in wilt development. Thus, F.sacchari is the major causative agent of two distinct diseases present in sugarcane plant in India viz., wilt and PB.Not Availabl