Characterization and management of bacterial wilt of chillies caused by Pseudomonas solanaceasum E F Smith

Abstract

Bacterial wilt is one of the most serious disease of chillies in Kerala. The pathogen was isolated from infected chilli plants and its pathogenicity established. Ten isolates of the pathogen viz., five from chillies , two each from tomato and brinjal and one from ginger were used in the study and they werre characterized and identified as blovar III of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith based on the morphological, cultural, biochemical and physiological characters, coupled with its pathogenicity. Twentynine accessions/varieties of chillies were screened for host resistance against bacterial wilt and the study revealed that the variety 'Manjari' (KAU Cluster/CA 33) was resistant to the disease. The accessions CA 205 and CA 207 exhibited moderately resistant reaction. There was no significant correlation between environmental factors and wilt incidence of all the accessions/varieties except CA 408, for which a positive correlation was noticed between soil moisture and wilt incidence.