Review Article Open Access

Phomopsis vexans (Sacc. & Syd.) Harter: Current Research and Future Perspectives (1914-2015)

Abstract

Phomopsis vexans is an important fungal plant pathogen associated with brinjal. Since its discovery from 1893, it has undergone several taxonomic changes to its current nomenclature P. vexans in 1914. Several mycologists have contributed immensely to the understanding of the diversity, biology and pathological aspects of P. vexans and to the extent to which it causes damage to the brinjal crop production. At present, P. vexans is widely distributed in all major brinjal growing regions of the world. It causes damping-off of seedlings in nursery, leaf blight; fruit rot and stem blight at various stages of plant growth and development. It produces two types of conidia such as alpha and beta; alpha conidia are hyaline, biguttulate, oval and infective and beta conidia are the diagnostic feature of the genus Phomopsis. The fungal pathogen is known to survive in soil, seed and disseminated through rain splash. Though various chemical and biological management methods have been adapted to reduce the disease incidence, P. vexans is still a major challenge for the plant pathologists around the globe. Search for various sources of resistance against P. vexans is an on-going program in many research institutes met with little success. The present management system focuses on the application of bio-control agents to check the disease development and to confer resistance against P. vexans.

Mahadevakumar S and Janardhana GR

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