Wart disease of potato, also known as black wart disease, is a serious fungal infection that affects potato crops and reduces their market value. Let’s explore this disease, its causes, symptoms, and how to control it.
🧬 Scientific Name and Causative Agent
- Scientific Name: Synchytrium endobioticum
- Causative Agent: A fungus that lives in soil and infects potato tubers.
- It is often referred to as synchytrium wart disease of potato.
🦠 How It Spreads
- Wart disease spreads through infected tubers, contaminated soil, water, and farming tools.
- It is endemic to some temperate regions and has strict quarantine regulations in many countries.
- In India, it emerged from Darjeeling district in West Bengal.
🔍 Symptoms
- Appearance of black, warty growths on potato tubers, especially around the eyes.
- The warts resemble cauliflower-like outgrowths.
- These warts can grow large, crack, and rot.
- The disease mainly affects the underground parts; aerial symptoms are rare.
🔄 Life/Disease Cycle
- The life cycle of wart disease of potato includes resting spores that survive in the soil for 20+ years.
- These spores germinate under moist and cool conditions, infecting young potato tissue.
📍 Where It’s Found
- Wart disease is endemic to several parts of Europe, and has been found in Asia, including India.
🛡️ Control Measures
- Use resistant potato varieties.
- Practice crop rotation with non-host crops.
- Avoid use of infected tubers and ensure clean equipment.
- Quarantine and destroy infected material.
- Apply certified fungicides in severely infected soils (as per local agricultural guidelines).
📸 Visuals & Identification
- Farmers can identify the disease through wart disease of potato images showing the characteristic black, raised, and spongy warts.
📌 Summary of Key Points
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Caused by | Synchytrium endobioticum |
| Common Name | Potato wart or black wart |
| Symptoms | Black, warty, cauliflower-like growth on tubers |
| Endemic Regions | Europe, India (Darjeeling origin) |
| Control | Resistant varieties, sanitation, crop rotation |
📢 Did you know? Potato wart disease is a quarantine disease in many countries due to its high persistence and destructive potential.
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