Witches Broom -A New Disease of Potato from Gujarat

摘要

A few plants of potato (Solarium tuberosum L.) variety Kufri Badshah in the crop growing in Ranpur village near Deesa in Gujarat were found to suffer from a witches broom disease. The disease was characterized by the production of excessive branches and shortening of internodes. The numbers of leaves increased-many folds but their size was much reduced. The over all appearance of the plant remained very much stunted and bushy as compared to healthy plant (Fig. 1). On the basis of symptoms the diseasewas identified as witches broom. The identity was further confirmed at Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, India from where witches broom of potato caused by phytoplasma has already been reported by Nagaich et al (2008). However, from Gujarat state this is the first report of witches broom disease of potato.