Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet EditionPotato soft rot (296)
Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet EditionPotato soft rot (296)
Summary
- Worldwide distribution. On potato, brassicas, capsicum, carrot, aroids, ornamentals and more. Important bacterial diseases.
- Three kinds: (i) soft rots in seed, brown with black margin, (ii) stem rots (uncommon); (iii) wet rots in storage. Spread in ground water, and trade in tubers.
- Cultural control: certified seed; treat cutting tools (bleach); field drainage; avoid excessive N; avoid irrigation until emergence; avoid harvest when wet, and avoid wounds; harvest 7-10 days after vine are dead; avoid washing tubers before storage; store at 12-15°C for 1-2 weeks, and then at 10°C.
- Chemical control: none recommended.
Common Name
Bacterial soft rot
Scientific Name
Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum (previously, Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora). There are other, related, bacteria species causing stem and tuber rots in potato, most importantly "black leg" caused by Pectobacterium atrisepticum, and Erwinia chrysanthemi (renamed Dickeya chrysanthemi) causing tuber rots, particularly in tropical countries.
AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
Information from Diseases of vegetable crops in Australia (2010). Editors, Denis Persley, Tony Cooke, Susan House. CSIRO Publishing; and from Bacterial rots of potato tubers (2009) Plant Fact sheets. The Food and Environment Research Agency, Sand Hutton, York, UK. (http://fera.co.uk/news/resources/documents/pests-disease-bacterialRotsPotato.pdf). Photo 1 Gerald Holmes, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org.
Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
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