Three new fungal diseases from India

During systematic survey of parasitic fungi of Faizabad (U.P.), the authors observed leaf spot disease of Desmodium gyrans (Cercospora canescens), Phragmites communis (Alternaria tenuissima) and a foot rot disease of Coriandrum sativum (Torula herbarum f. quaternella) caused by fungi given in the parenthesis. The specimen has been deposited in the Herbarium, Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew, England and a part of the collection has been deposited in the Mycological Herbarium, Botany Department, K.S. Saket Post-Graduate College, Faizabad. Symptoms of each disease are briefly given below. 

1. Leaf spot disease of Desmodium gyrans:

The disease was confined to the lower surface of the leaves. Spots were diffused, irregular, light brown to black, scattered all over the leaf surface, however, the vein areas being heavily infected. On the basis of detailed morphological characters the causal organism was identified as Cercospora canescens Ell. & Mart. 

Collected from Gokul Sadan, Ayodhya, Faizabad, March 1973, IMI 181834.

2. Leaf spot disease of Phragmites communis:

The plants were infected to various degree. The infection was more severe on younger parts of the growing tips of aerial shoot including leaves. The apical portion was damaged which ultimately died. The older leaves showed black to brown spots of irregular size on outer surface of leaf sheath and on lamina. 

The detailed morphological characters revealed the the fungus responsible for the disease was Alternaria tenuissima(Kunze ex Pers.) Wiltshire.

Collected from Nayaghat, Ayodhya, Faizabad, Feb. 1976, IMI 209295.

3. Leaf spot disease of Coriandrum sativum:  

 The disease started as greyish patches scattered here and there on stem and older leaves. Later on the entire plant was involved including flower and fruits. Severely infected plants in advanced stage showed wilting and final rotting. 

Microscopic studies on diseased part of the plant revealed that Torula herbarum (Pers.) S.F. Gray f.quaternella Sacc. was the causal organism. 

Collected from Rsam Kote, Ayodhya, Faizabad, Feb. 1976, IMI 209326.

So far, none of the above mentioned diseases have been recorded from India (Butler and Bisby, 1954; Mukerjii and Juneja, 1974; Tondon and Sudhir Chandra, 1964; Tilak and Rao, 1968), and these are thus new diseases of concerning plants from India.  

Cited this as: Kanaujia R.S., Kishor R. and C.S. Singh (1978): Three new fungal diseases from India. Acta Botanica Indica. 6: 92-93.