Fusarium dieback: An emerging issue in the tea industry

Tea is one of the important cash crops of India.It is a non-alcoholic beverage with numerous health benefits.Tea cultivation can be affected by several biotic and abiotic stresses.Both types of stresses are directly associated with productivity.Among different biotic stresses, dieback disease of tea plants caused by Fusarium sp. is emerging in different tea-growing regions.Earlier, this dieback disease was considered as minor one of tea cultivation but recently, tea production has been significantly hampered by dieback disease.Previously, Fusarium solani was considered as the sole pathogen of this disease but very recent study has shown that different other species of Fusarium like Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium concentricum and Fusarium fujikuroi can also function as causal organism.To mitigate a particular disease, it is important to understand the host pathogen interaction.In the present review, an approach has taken to understand different aspects of this disease along with possible control measures based on Fusarium diseases.This review will help future workers to understand this disease in a lucid way along with setting up of disease protection strategies.