Abstract
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivation was first practiced in eastern nations like India and the Mediterranean regions. India stands first in pomegranate production and cultivated area in the world. During the year 2021, powdery mildew symptoms were observed on pomegranate plants of the cultivar G-37 and P-23 at the research farm (Dhanda) of ICAR-IARI Regional Station, Amartara Cottage, Shimla, 171,004 Himachal Pradesh, India. The research farm comes under the southwestern ranges of the Himalayas. The disease incidence was recorded to be 40% in both cultivars. The premature leaves and buds were covered in the dense, white mycelium and conidial mass patches that were powdery in appearance. Microscopic examination revealed the presence of enormous ellipsoid conidium structures associated with the diseased specimen. The conidiophores foot-cells were slightly tapered to straight measuring 70–190 × 4–7 μm. Conidia was hyaline, 37–27 × 14–11 μm (average 31.96 × 12.93 μm), however, chasmothecia could not be observed in the specimen. The molecular identification based on internal transcribed spacer region primers disclosed the fungus identity as Erysiphe punicae. The pathogenicity test was subsequently performed to prove the Koch postulates on the initially identified host cultivar P-23. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of powdery mildew of pomegranate caused by Erysiphe punicae in India.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included or specified in this published article.
References
Amano K (1986) Host range and geographical distribution of the powdery mildew fungi. Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, Japan
Braun U, Cook RTA (2012) Taxonomic manual of the Erysiphales (Powdery Mildews). CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Series 11, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Cara M, Toska M, Frasheri D, Baroncelli R, Sanzani SM (2022) Alternaria species causing pomegranate and citrus fruit rots in Albania. J Plant Dis Prot 129(5):1095–1104
Chandra R, Dhinesh BK, Jadhav VT, da Silva JAT (2010) Origin, history and domestication of pomegranate. Fruit Veg Cereal Sci Biotechnol 4:1–6
Cook RTA, Braun U (2009) Conidial germination patterns in powdery mildews. Mycol Res 113:616–636
Deshpande T, Sengupta S, Raghuvanshi KS (2014) Grading & identification of disease in pomegranate leaf and fruit. Int J Comp Sci Inform Technol 5(3):4638–4645
Holland D, Hatib K, BarYaakov I (2009) Pomegranate: botany, horticulture, breeding. Hortic Rev 35:127–191
ICCIMA (2021) https://en.otaghiranonline.ir/news/33345. Assessed 14 May 2022
Khodaparast S, Hedjaroude GA, Ershad D, Zad J, Termeh F (2000) A study on identification of Erysiphaceae in Gilan province, Iran (I). Rostaniha 1:53–63
Kumar R, Tiwari RK, Jeevalatha A, Siddappa S, Shah M, Sharma S, Sagar V, Kumar M, Chakrabarti SK (2021) Potato apical leaf curl disease: current status and perspectives on a disease caused by tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus. J Plant Dis Prot 128(4):897–911
Li X, Lu X, He Y, Deng M, Lv Y (2019) Identification the pathogens causing rot disease in pomegranate (Punica granatum l.) in China and the antifungal activity of aqueous garlic extract. Forests 11(1):34
Mohamed RA, Al-Bedak OA, Hassan SH (2021) First record in Upper Egypt of vascular wilt on pomegranate caused by Fusarium oxysporum, its molecular identification and artificial pathogenicity. J Plant Dis Prot 128(1):311–316
Negi H, Rani A, Joshi S, Sharma PK (2020) Biodiversity of microbial community: association with sustainable hill agroecosystems. Microbiological advancements for higher altitude agro-ecosystems & sustainability. Springer, Singapore, pp 163–181
Nemes K, Salanki K, Pintye A (2019) Punica granatum (pomegranate) as new host of Erysiphe platani and Podosphaera xanthii. Phytopathol Mediterr 58:707–711
NHB (2021) National Horticultural Board. http://nhb.gov.in
Pollastro S, Gerin D, Marullo S, Angelini RDM, Faretra F (2016) First report of Erysiphe sp. as a causal agent of powdery mildew on Punica granatum in Italy. Plant Dis 100:1949
Sharma J, Sharma KK, Meshram DT, Singh NV, Chanadra Ram, Dhinesh Babu K, Maity A, Gaikwad NN (2014) Pomegranate: cultivation, marketing and utilization. Technical Bulletin No. NRCP/2014 ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate, Solapur- 413 255 (Maharashtra), p 3
Takamatsu S, Ito H, Shiroya Y, Kiss L, Heluta V (2015) First comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the genus Erysiphe (Erysiphales, Erysiphaceae) I. The Microsphaera lineage. Mycologia 107(3):475–489
Tiwari RK (2015) Taxonomy and diversity of powdery mildew fungi of cucurbits
Tiwari RK, Kumar R, Sharma S, Naga KC, Subhash S, Sagar V (2021) Continuous and emerging challenges of silver scurf disease in potato. Int J Pest Manage 68(1):89–101
Tiwari RK, Bashyal BM, Shanmugam V, Lal MK, Kumar R, Sharma S, Naga KC, Chourasia KN, Aggarwa R (2022) First report of dry rot of potato caused by Fusarium proliferatum in India. J Plant Dis Prot 129(1):173–179
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by ICAR-Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
Funding
This work was supported by grants from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), India, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, and ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
SW, KCN, KKP, RKT contributed to Conceptualization and Writing original draft; RK, MKL, AKS, PHM contributed to Supervision, Reviewing and Editing; DP, MN contributed to Revision, Analysis and Data Curation, Resources and Methodology.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethical approval
Ethical approval is not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watpade, S., Naga, K.C., Pramanick, K.K. et al. First report of powdery mildew of pomegranate (Punica granatum) caused by Erysiphe punicae in India. J Plant Dis Prot 130, 651–656 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-023-00718-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-023-00718-8