Post harvest diseases of

potato

List of diseases

Black Leg - Erwinia carotovora

Dry rot - Fusarium coeruleum
Brown rot - Ralstonia solanacearum
Potato wart - Synchytrium endobioticum
Late blight - Phytophthora infestans
Scab - Streptomyces Scabies
Sclerotium rot - Sclerotium rolfsii
Silver scurf - Spondyocladium atrovirens
Charcoal rot - Macrophomina phaseolina

Black leg - Erwinia spp

Aerial stem rot & tuber soft rot

Black leg begins from a contaminated seed piece
Stem bases - an inky-black to light-brown decay, extend up
the stem from less than an inch to more than two feet
These enlarge into a soft, mushy rot that causes entire stems
to wilt and die
Leaves - roll upward at the margins, become yellow, wilt &
often die

Potato tubers with soft rot have tissues

very soft and watery

have a slightly granular consistency

tissue is cream to tan-colored

black border separating diseased from healthy areas

In the early stages, soft-rot decay - odorless

Later a foul odor and a stringy or slimy decay usually develops
as secondary decay bacteria invade infected tissues

Symptoms of black leg

Survival and spread

Blackleg - Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica
Carried by contaminated seed tubers
Usually dormant and do not cause disease unless environmental
conditions are favorable

Aerial stem rot - Erwinia carotovora subsp. Carotovora

Contained in infested soil or introduced to the crop by irrigation
water, wind-blown rain, and insects
Tuber soft rot - caused by either of these soft-rot bacteria
Maggot flies (Hylemyia spp. and Phorlin spp.) - spread the black leg
and soft rot
Epidemiology
High soil temperatures and bruising of seed tubers favor seed-piece
decay
RH - 94 to 100% & temp - 21 to 29oC

Management
Plant only certified, disease-free seed tubers

Seed treatment

Agallol-3(0.25%) for 5 min

Streptomycin sulphate 0.1 % for 10 min

Streptocycline ( 100 ppm) and copper sulphate ( 40 ppm) for 30 min

Harvest tubers only after the vines are completely dead to

ensure skin maturity

Precautions to minimize cuts and bruises when harvesting and

handling tubers

Storage - 55-60 F with 90-95% relative humidity for the first 1-2
weeks to promote wound healing

Dry rot
F. solani var. coeruleum

Dry dark spots appear on the skin which later becomes

sunken and wrinkled with irregular concentric rings

Spots shrinks and bursts out

Internal tissue becomes brown and shrunken with cavities

filled with numerous white tufts of mycelium

Rotting progress into whole tuber which loses much of water

and become dry hard, shriveled and light in weight

Fungus

Mycelium branched, septate

Hyphae break through the skin and form pustules on the surface

Pustule closely interwoven hyphae which give rise to branched

conidiophores bearing conidia

Mode of spread and survival

Contaminated soil - chief source

Mycelium, conidia and chlamydospores - present in the soil

Conidia floating in the air or found on the floor and walls of stores infect
injured tubers

Epidemiology

Temp -15 to 25oC

RH - 50%

Management
Avoid injuries to tubers

Potatoes should be dried thoroughly and then stored in a cool

place

To speed the healing process, hold tubers at 50 to 60F with

good ventilation and a RH of at least 95% for the first 2 to 3
weeks of storage

Brown rot
Ralstonia solanacearum

Bangle blight or bangili

Leaf- turns bronze colour, shrivel and die
Vascular system of stem, root, stolon and tuber turns brown
Ring disease - brown ring in the tuber due to discolouration of
vascular bundles
Whitish bacterial exudate oozes from the vascular system of
cut stems and cut tubers

Casual organism
Gram ve, rod shaped bacteria, polar flagellum

Forms no spores and capsules

Mode of spread and survival

Infected soil and seed tubers - source of infection

Decay plant parts release masses of bacteria in the soil - viable

from season to season

Infection through wounds in roots which spread through

vascular system into the stem

Epidemiology
Soil temp - 25 to 35oC
Moisture - 50 %
Optimum pH - 6.2 to 6.6

Management
Crop rotation - potato-wheat

High degree of resistance - clones of Solanum phureja

Late blight
Phytophthora infestans

Irish famine - 1845-46

Symptoms
Leaves, stems and tubers
Water soaked spots appear on leaves, turn purple brown &
finally black colour
White growth develops on under surface
Stem breaks at these points and the plant topples

In tubers - purplish brown spots & spread to entire surface

Tuber show rusty brown necrosis spreading from surface to

the center

Fungus
Mycelium - endophytic, coenocytic and hyaline
Sporangiophores arise from internal mycelium through
stomata on the tubers
Sporangia - multinucleate, thin walled, hyaline, oval shaped
Zoospores - biflagellate

Phytophthora infestans
A, zoospores produced within
the lemon-shaped sporangia (B).

Mode of spread and survival

Infected tubers and infected soil - source of primary infection

Survival of fungus in fruiting stage or as dormant mycelium

in the soil

Persisting of perennial mycelium in affected tubers from the

field, stored and used as seed in next season

Epidemiology
Cool (12 to 15oC) and humid ( above 90 %) weather with
rains alternating with warm (20o C) moist period

Control
S. demissum and S. phureja - used for breeding for disease
resistant varieties

Varieties - Kufri Naveen, Kufri Jeevan, Kufri Alenkar, Kufri

Moti

Bruising of tubers at harvest should be avoided

Regular spraying during growing season gives effective

control- 10 to 15 days interval
Brestan 600g/ha
Zineb 0.2 %

Bordeaux mixture 1.0%

Mancozeb (2 kg/ha)

Scab
Streptomyces scabies

Shallow scab corky tissue which arises from abnormal

proliferation of the cells of the periderm of the tuber

Lesions vary in size and shape and darker than the healthy
skin

Corky lesions 1 to 3mm deep and darker than shallow lesions

Actinomycete attacks young tubers at a early stage of

development

Actinomycete
Conidia produced by formation of septa, which contract to
form narrow isthmuses between the cells

Conidia- cylindrical and hyaline

Mode of spread and survival

Affects cabbage, carrot, eggplant, onion, radish

Contaminated soil and infected tubers - source of infection

Pathogen may survive passage through digestive tract of

animals and hence it may spread with farm yard manure

Control measures
Use disease free planting materials
Soil application of PCNB (30kg/ha) at the time of planting
Green manuring before planting effectively reduce disease
incidence
Seed treatment - mercuric chloride 0.1 %
High degree of resistance - S. caldasii var. glabrescens,
S. chacoense & S. commersonii
Varieties - Menominee, Russet Rural, Sebago

Potato wart
Synchytrium endobioticum
Warts
As small white granular swellings on the eyes
Remain minute or may become as large as the tuber
Soft, pulpy, white to begin & become black later

Fungus
Do not develop any mycelium
Produce summer sporangia thin walled
Sporangia release zoospores which attack the tubers

Live resting (winter) sporangium

of S. endobioticum.

Mode of survival and spread

Resting spores - viable in soil for 20-25 yrs
Withstand passage through the intestines of cattle
Spread - contaminated manure, soil, infected seed tubers
Epidemiology
Temp - 16.7 to 17.8oc
Presence of oxygen and nitrates in soil favours the
germination of sporangia
Management
Resistant cultivars - Kufri Kanchar, Kufri Sherpa, Kufri Jyoti
Steam sterilization of soil
Soil treatment mercuric chloride and formalin 5%

Sclerotium rot
Sclerotium rolfsii

Thick white strands of fungus appear at the collar region of

the stem and roots

White fungal hyphae grow on the tubers which later start

rotting and covered by fruiting bodies

Fungus
Silky white mycelium
Septate and branched hyphae
Globose, smooth surfaced sclerotia
Mode of survival - mycelium and sclerotia subsists in
soil
Mode of spread - infected soil, in running water & on
farm implements

Epidemiology
Temp - 30-35oc
Thrives in sandy or loamy soil which are acidic
Alternate wet & dry soil conditions favour the disease
development
Management
Application of ammonium nitrate to the soil
Seed tuber treatment - PCNB@ 15 kg/ha
Resistant clones - S. acaule, S. multiinerruptum,
S. infundibuliformae
Resistant varieties - Kufri Bahar, Kufri Jyoti, Kufri Muthu,
Kufri Sherpa

Charcoal rot
Macrophomina phaseolina

Black spot (2-3mm in dia) develops around the lenticels

which appears as whitish specks at the centre
On cutting - internal tissues shows black patches beneath
the spots on the surface of the tuber

Fungus
Mycelium - sparse or fluffy
Hyphae - branched, septate and greyish white or brown
Sclerotia - minute, black and smooth
Conidiophores - simple and rod shaped
Conidia - one celled, hyaline, oval or elliptical

Mode of spread and survival

Pathogen present in the soil - primary source of inoculum
Entry of fungus - bruising of skin, insect damage
Sclerotia survive in the soil for more than 3 yrs
Epidemiology
Disease is more severe in wet soil
Temp - 31oc
Management
Avoid bruising of tubers during harvest, collection and
storage
Temp of store house should be low
Early maturing varieties - Kufri Chandramukhi, Kufri Alankar

Silver scurf
Spondyocladium atrovirens

Lesions - brown, slightly depressed and circular with fimbriate

margins
Dotted with minute black specks or sclerotia of the pathogen
Organism invades only the cork cells which are destroyed
and slough off forming a scurf

Fungus
Hyphae septate, branched, hyaline and become brown with
age
Conidia- dark brown, club shaped, thick walled
Hyphae form minute sclerotia
Pathogen live from season to season on the affected tubers
and in the soil
Spread from diseased to healthy tubers in storage

Management
Use of disease free seed material
Seed treatment- mercuric chloride - 0.1% for 30 min