Potato early dying – agents, causes and symptoms

Abstract

Climate changes observed for many years adversely affect the development of crops, but also create conditions for the development of individual diseases or their complexes, which so far have not found favorable conditions fot their development. One of such complexes is potato early dying (PED). The fungus Verticillium dahliae is considered to be the main culprit of this disease, but other culprits of PED include Colletotrichum coccodes (Wallr.) Hughes, Verticillium albo-atrum Reinke & Berthold and Fusarium spp. and pectynolytic bacteria Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum. Nematodes Paratylenchus penetrans (Cobb) Sher and Allen play an important role in stimulating the disease and increasing losses. The disease is common in potato-growing areas, causing losses of up to 50%. Due to large amount of infectious material and the possibility of long-term survival in the soil and the wide range of hosts, combating its harmfulness requires the use of all available methods.