Vol. 11, Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
V Renugadevi, P Muthulakshmi, V Sendhilvel and K Rajamani

Abstract:
Gloriosa superba L. is an important perennial, medicinal herb widely cultivated in Africa and Southeast Asia. The incidence of tuber rot disease was recorded at up to 25% in major glory lily growing areas of Tamil Nadu. During the survey, symptoms of affected crops along with yellowing, bark shredding and presence of black mustard like sclerotia on rotten tubers were observed. In the present study, the causal agent for tuber rot disease was identified and characterized on the basis of morphological and molecular studies. Morphological examination showed black microsclerotia, round to oblong, irregular in shape with a size of 50 to 90 µm. Furthermore, genomic DNA was extracted from the isolates and PCR amplification was done using universal ITS primers. The sequence analysis confirmed the causal agent associated with tuber rot disease as Macrophomina phaseolina.