Incidence and Severity of Bulb Rot Disease of Garlic in Southern Karnataka Region, India

Garlic is one of the major commercial crops which is used in many different ways worldwide. In southern Karnataka districts the crop is grown in Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Chithradurga, Tumakuru, Hassan, and Mysuru district. During survey it was noticed that, bulb rot disease has severely affected the garlic fields which is caused by F. proliferatum and an average of 52.22% percentage disease incidence (PDI) was recorded. However, district wise disease incidence varied with having the lowest PDI recorded in Hassan district with 36.08% PDI while the highest PDI of 60.26%, was recorded in Tumakuru district. The disease causing pathogen F. proliferatum isolated from infected garlic collected from garlic growing fields of Chamarajanagara. The pathogenicity of the isolated species on garlic was confirmed by artificial inoculations and reisolations of the pathogen from the diseased bulb. The isolated pathogen further confirmed by morphological and molecular characterization. The disease gain importance as F. proliferatum is known to produce a mycotoxin fumonisin which is toxic when the infected garlic is ingested. This is the first report from Southern Karnataka region, India.