- Worldwide distribution. In tropics and sub-tropics. On ginger, taro, giant taro, Xanthosoma, beans and capsicum (see Fact sheet no. 44). Many kinds of seedlings are susceptible to damping-off disease in the nursery (see Fact Sheet No. 47).
- A water mould, an oomycete, not a fungus, living in soil on remains of crops, weeds, or as resistant spores.
- Swimming spores infect roots, buds on rhizome or the stems of shoots. Stems collapse, and leaves yellow and die. Patches of yellow develop in the field.
- Spread occurs in soil water to neighbouring plants, and long distances in 'seed' used for planting.
- Cultural control: raised beds with deep ditches to drain soil and isolate disease outbreaks; clean seed from healthy crops; weed; 3-4-year crop rotation.
- Chemical control: metalaxyl and phosphorous acid (possibly), but unlikely to be economic.
Pacific Pests, Pathogens and Weeds - Online edition
Pacific Pests, Pathogens, Weeds & Pesticides
Ginger soft rot (162)
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Summary
Common Name
Soft rot, rhizome rot
Scientific Name
Pythium species. Pythium myriotylum and Pythium aphanidermatum are two common species reported on ginger.
AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
Information from Meenu G, Jebasingh T (2019) Diseases of ginger. (https://www.intechopen.com/books/ginger-cultivation-and-its-antimicrobial-and-pharmacological-potentials/diseases-of-ginger); and CABI (2014) Plantwise. Rhizome soft rot of ginger. (https://www.cabi.org/ISC/FullTextPDF/2015/20157800154.pdf); and Le DP et al. (2014) Pythium soft rot of ginger: Detection and identification of the causal pathogens, and their control. Crop Protection 65:153-167. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261219414002415?via%3Dihub); and from Diseases of vegetable crops in Australia (2010). Editors, Denis Persley, et al. CSIRO Publishing. Photo 1 Robert Fullerton, Plant & Food Research, Auckland, New Zealand.
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.
