By,

JOEL PRADEEP A. B.
I Semester, M.Sc. In Botany
University Of Mysore
Manasagangotri, Mysore
 CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SYMPTOMS
• PATHOGEN BIOLOGY
• DISEASE CYCLE AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
• DISEASE MANAGEMENT
• CONCLUSIONS
• REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION
• Downy mildew of Bajra (Pennisetum typhoides), also referred to as ‘Green ear’ is the most
destructive disease.
• This disease is widely distributed in temperate and tropical areas of the world.
• It has been reported from several countries including China, India, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Fiji, and
the countries where bajra is grown.
• In India, the disease was first reported and studied by Butler (1907) and Kulakarni (1913).
• The disease is seen in Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan and some of the other states of India
where bajra is cultivated.
• During kharif season of 1975, the outbreak of the disease on bajra, grown in several hectares of
Karnataka and Maharashtra caused almost 100% loss.
• The causal organism is Sclerospora graminicola.
Bajra crop infected by Downy Mildew disease.
 SYMPTOMS
• The symptoms of the disease is seen in two stages :
• (a) Downy mildew stage in which the lower surface of the leaf gets covered with
whitish cottony growth of the fungi.
• (b) Green ear stage in which ears or cobs get affected.
• The infected plants are dwarfed because of shortening of internodes, tillering is
excessive.
• The leaves become pale and chlorotic while the lower surface is covered by
whitish cover of sporangia.
• The leaves may become distorted, wrinkled and tend to split into threads.
 SYMPTOMS
• The oosporic stage is predominant and the ears are transformed into leafy
bearded structures.
• Here three types of symptoms are seen,
1. Normal cob length and the whole cob converted into a green, leafy, bearded
structure.
2. Normal cob length but the lower half converted into leafy, bearded structure
and the upper half bearing normal grains.
3. The whole inflorescence reduced and converted into leafy, bearded structures
without bearing any grains.
 A B

1. (A.) Chlorosis and (B.) Whitish downy growth of sporangia.

2. Symptoms of Green Ear in Bajra.

 PATHOGEN BIOLOGY
• Sclerospora graminicola causes downy mildew and green ear disease in bajra
(Pennisetum typhoides). It is an obligate parasite.
• Arya and Tiwari (1969) reported sporophytic growth of S. graminicola on White’s basal
medium.
• Sclerospora graminicola produces two types of spores, the asexual spores known as
sporangia, and the sexual spores known as oospores.
• The hyphae are intercellular with bulbous haustoria. They are large, aseptate and
upto10µm in diameter.
• The sporangiophores emerges in clusters through stomata. Sporangia are usually
produced during the night.
(1.) Sporangiophore bearing (2.) Sporangia (3.) Oospore
sporangia.
 DISEASE CYCLE & EPIDEMIOLOGY
• The disease is primarily soil – borne.
• The disease might even occur through seeds by carrying oospore during
harvesting and threshing.
• The pathogen might be present in bajra seeds either as oospore externally or in
the form of dormant mycelium internally, Shetty et al. (1977).
• The whitish cottony growth of the pathogen on the leaf surface is the “asexual phase”,
followed by the “sexual phase” in which oospores are produced within the leaf tissue.
 DISEASE CYCLE
• Sporangia are hyaline, thin walled, ellipsoid or broadly elliptical and papillate. It further divides
to form biflagellate zoospores.
• The number of zoospores per sporangium vary from 1-12. Zoospores emerge through the
operculum and fall on leaf surface containing water or moisture to cause primary infection.
• Sexual phase starts with the formation of the oospores in the host.
• Mature oospores are thick-walled, spherical, and brownish yellow, 22 to 35 um in diameter and
have 3 wall layers i.e., exosprorium, mesosporium and endosporium.
• The oospore in diseased leaves fall on the ground and perennate during summer.
• Oospores can survive from eight months to ten years. Oospores sometimes develop into
Sporangia which germinate indirectly to produce zoospores.
DISEASE CYCLE
 EPIDEMIOLOGY
• The temperatures between 15 – 25 oC favours the formation of sporangia.
• Relative humidity above 70% is considered necessary for the stimulation of
sporangia formation.
• In general a saturated atmosphere with a film of water on the leaf is considered
best.
• An optimum combination of high humidity and favourable temperature usually
occurs in July, August and September in North India where the disease occurs
more frequently during these months.
 DISEASE MANAGEMENT
• Use of healthy seeds.
• Alternations in the date of planting (early planting).
• Modifications in planting methods :
 Soil solarization, crop rotation, transplanting etc.
• Removal of diseased plants and scouting for secondary infections.
• Use foliage sprays like,
 Ridomil MZ – 72 WP (Metalaxyl + Mancozeb) at 500ppm concentration (or)
 Ridomil MZ – 280 FW (Metalaxyl + Zineb ) at 1000ppm concentration.
 DISEASE MANAGEMENT
• Seed treatment using fungicides like,
 Thiram & Captafol, Metalaxyl, Ridomil(8g/kg of seed) and Apron SD-35(2.5g/kg of seed) .
• Reports show that seed treatment with crude extracts of,
 Vinca rosea, Ocimum sanctum, Allium sativum, Datura stramonium, Azadirachta indica and
Thuja sinensis reduced the incidence of the disease.
• Growing of resistant varieties like,
 ICHM 451, Pusa 23, HB -5, HHB – 67, NHB -10 etc.
 CONCLUSIONS
• Bajra is an essential millet used to obtain a nutritive diet.
• Inorder to obtain high yield for the human consumption it is necessary to
minimize these diseases that cause around 30% of crop loss.
• Effective, disease resistant varieties of Bajra must be developed.
 REFERENCES
• Mehrotra (2003). PLANT PATHOLOGY, Second Edition. Tata
Mc Graw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi, (pp. 348 –
351).

• http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/chhabra61-532441-
flower-structure-of-pearl-millet/

• https://plantvillage.psu.edu/topics/pearl-millet/infos