Target leaf spot of tomato incited by Corynespora cassiicola, an emerging disease in tomato production under Gangetic alluvial region of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is a cosmopolitan vegetable and widely cultivated in almost all the countries of the world including India. Irreversible investment – production ratio for tomato cultivation in recent Indian agricultural systems arise the question, is there any biotic backlogs responsible for such a production loss. Our present investigation is based on this fact. Target leaf spot disease of tomato is caused by Corynespora cassiicola, a serious and emerging disease in India. Prolonged real time surveillance of this disease on tomato from 2010–11 to 2016–17, reflects some remarkable features of pathogenic progress in Gangetic alluvial region of West Bengal. This pathogen is the natural barrier for tomato production with a disease severity ranged between 35% and 58% which ultimately causes tremendous loss of tomato foliage and fruits. C. cassiicola was identified on the basis of morpho-cultural (ITCC Accession No. 7542) and molecular characterization (Genbank Accession No. KJ767193). Homology searching of internal transcribed spacer region of CcHaTom isolate was highly matched with Genbank Accession No. KP666184 (Cynodondactylon/India), AB873045 (Vitex negundo/India) and JN541214 (Malvaviscus concinnus/USA) with 95% similarity. Phylogenetic analysis established that KJ767193 and C. cassiicola retrieved sequences were conspecific from a common ancestral origin, which supports its neighbourhood with this fungal pathogen. Optimum temperature between 24 and 25 °C, coupled with 80–85% relative humidity triggered the disease progress. From the emerging scenario, C. cassiicola infecting tomato is the real threat for indigenous cultivars.