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 Mango (Mangifera sp.) suffers from several diseases at all stages of its life. All the parts of the plant, namely, trunk, branch, twig, leaf, petiole, flower and fruit are attacked by a number of pathogens including fungi, bacteria and algae. They cause several kinds of rot, die back, anthracnose, scab, necrosis, blotch, spots, mildew, etc. Some of these diseases like powdery mildew are of great economic importance as they cause heavy losses in mango production.
Diseases: - Powdery Mildew (Oidium mangiferae Berthet.)
- Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz.)
- Dieback ( Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.) Griffon & Maubl.)
- Phoma Blight (Phoma glomerata)
- Scab (Elsino mangiferae)
- Black Banded (Rhinocladium corticolum)
- Mango Malformation (Fusarium subglutinans)
- Mango Bacterial Canker Disease (Xanthomonas campestris)
- Red Rust (Cephaleuros virescens)
- Black Rot (Aspergillus niger)
Insect Pests: - Hoppers (Idioscoynio chypeabis, I. nitidulus and Amritodus atkintoni)
- Mealy Bug (Drasicha mangiferae)
- Inflorescence Midge (Erosomyia indica )
- Fruit-fly (Bactrocera dorsalis , B . zonatus and B. correctus)
- Leaf Webber (Orthaga euadrusalis)
- Shoot Borer(Chlumatia transversa)
- Bark Eating Caterpillar (Indarbella quadrinotata)
- Stem Borer (Bactocera rufomaculata )
- Shoot Gall Psylla (Apsylla cistallata )
- Scale Insects (Chloropulvinaria polygonata, Aspidiotus destructor and Rastococcus sp.)
- Stone weevil (Sternochetus mangiferae)
Powdery Mildew
 The disease is caused by Oidium mangiferae Berthet. The disease affects inflorescence, leaves and young fruits. The white superficial powdery growth of the fungus comprising a large number of conidia borne on conidiophores. - The disease can be managed by pruning of diseased leaves and malformed panicles and three sprays of fungicides at different stages starting with Wettable Sulphur (0.2%) at the panicle size of 7.50 -10.00 cm followed by Dinocap (0.1%) after 15-20 days of first spray and Tridemorph (0.1%) after15-20days of second spray. Wettable Sulphur (0.2%) can be used in all the three sprays and number of sprays may be reduced as per appearance time of disease.
Anthracnose
 The disease is incited by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz. It affects all the above ground parts of the plant particularly leaves, petioles, twigs, blossoms and fruits. It is one of the important post-harvest diseases of mango. - Disease may be reduced by removal of diseased parts from the tree and its destruction by burning.
- Infection on blossom could be reduced effectively by 2 sprays of Carbendazim (0.1%) at 15 day intervals. Its foliar infection can be managed by 2 sprays of Copper oxychliride (0.3%), while latent infection of the pathogen on fruits could be reduced by pre-harvest sprays of Thiophanate methyl or Carbendazim (0.1%).
- Post-harvest infection of this pathogen can be managed by post-harvest dip of fruits either with hot water alone (45 ± 20°C ) or hot water in combination of fungicides, Thiophanate methyl or Carbendazim (0.05%).
 Dieback In affected plants, twigs die from the tips back into old wood, giving a scorched appearance to the limb (Fig. 1). The young green twigs start withering first at the base and then extending outwards along the veins of leaf edges. The affected leaf turns brown and its margins roll upwards. Leaves scorch and fall, leaving a dead branch. In severe conditions, branches start drying one after another in a sequence, resulting in death of the whole tree. |
Plant Pathology 