Leaf blight of mexican coriander (eryngium foetidum) caused by erwinia chrysanthem1

Abstract

Abstract : Leaf blight of Mexican coriander was studied at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur in 2005 and 2006. Initially the disease appeared as water-soaked lesion at the tip of the leaves, gradually it enlarged and spread downward along the margins and extended laterally to the healthy regions. The leaf turned yellow and withered. The causal bacterium was a gram-negative fermentative organism, produced soft rot on potato slices, showed positive reaction in catalase, indole, lecithinase, acetoin, gelatin liquefaction and nitrate reduction tests but showed negative reaction in urease test and methyl red test. The bacteriological characteristics of eight isolates of bacterium coincided with reference strain Erwinia chrysanthemi, On inoculation, the bacterium showed pathogenicity on Mexican coriander with formation of leaf blight identical to natural infection. On the basis of bacteriological characteristics and pathogenicity, the bacterium was identified as Erwinia chrysanthemi. The bacterium was found pathogenic in wide range of hosts. This , is the first report of bacterial leaf blight of Mexican coriander in Bangladesh.