An Outbreak of Sorghum Ergot in Parts of Andhra Pradesh, India

Navi, Shrishail; Bandyopadhyay, R.; Nageswara Rao, T. G.; Tooley, P. W.

An Outbreak of Sorghum Ergot in Parts of Andhra Pradesh, India

File

2002_Navi_OutbreakSorghum.pdf (58.67 KB)

Date

2002-01-01

Authors

Navi, Shrishail

Bandyopadhyay, R.

Navi, Shrishail

Nageswara Rao, T. G.

Tooley, P. W.

Authors

Person

Navi, Shrishail

Research Scientist III

Organizational Units

Organizational Unit

Plant Pathology and Microbiology

The Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology and the Department of Entomology officially merged as of September 1, 2022. The new department is known as the Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology (PPEM). The overall mission of the Department is to benefit society through research, teaching, and extension activities that improve pest management and prevent disease. Collectively, the Department consists of about 100 faculty, staff, and students who are engaged in research, teaching, and extension activities that are central to the mission of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The Department possesses state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities in the Advanced Research and Teaching Building and in Science II. In addition, research and extension activities are performed off-campus at the Field Extension Education Laboratory, the Horticulture Station, the Agriculture Engineering/Agronomy Farm, and several Research and Demonstration Farms located around the state. Furthermore, the Department houses the Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic, the Iowa Soybean Research Center, the Insect Zoo, and BugGuide. Several USDA-ARS scientists are also affiliated with the Department.

Department

Plant Pathology and Microbiology

Abstract

This paper reports the incidence and severity of ergot infection (Claviceps sorghi) on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) on 28 farms in districts of Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy in Andhra Pradesh during an ergot epidemic in 2000 - 2001. Cultivars sown were local Yellow Jowar, local White Jowar and ICSV 745 as dual purpose sorghums, and SSG 777 and SSG 878 for fodder. In most villages, the sorghum crop had high incidence and severity (up to 100%) of ergot infection. The source of the epidemic was suggested to be the storage of infected panicles from previous years or the movement of contaminated seed from one village to another. Pathogen development was favoured by cloudy weather and high rainfall during flowering; one village 80 km from the epidemic had no rain during flowering and no incidence of ergot.

Comments

This article is published as Navi, S S and Bandyopadhyay, R and Rao, T G N and Tooley, P W (2002) An outbreak of sorghum ergot in parts of Andhra Pradesh, India. International Sorghum and Millets Newsletter, 43. pp. 68-70.