What is Anthracnose Disease and Which Fruit Does It Mainly Affect?
Anthracnose is a disease which occurs globally and is a common problem. It is one of the most serious and well-known diseases in horticulture. Due to its high level of damage, it normally requires both pre-harvest and post-harvest treatments. This is a problem that can affect various yields. The most commonly affected crops with anthracnose disease are mangoes, grapes, avocados and berries.
Anthracnose fungal disease goes by many names; on the twigs of avocados is also known as ‘pepper spot’, while in mangoes it is called ‘blossom blight’ and ‘degreening burn’ in citrus. Anthracnose is a general term which is being used for these diseases because all of these are affecting plants in quite a similar way and are caused by the same genus of fungi.
What Causes Scab/Anthracnose?
The term anthracnose is normally used to describe the specific symptoms which are being caused by a complete genus of fungi called Colletotrichum. This is a specifically problematic species which can impact hundreds of types of plants. It can cause damage to cereal crops, grasses, vegetables, and fruits perennial crops, trees and legumes.
The fungus responsible for anthracnose across a variety of crops is from the genus Colletorichum, with species as follows:
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Plant or plant type Anthracnose is caused by Tomato C. coccodes Cotton C. gossypii Cucurbits C. lagenarium Peppers C. capsici Banana C. musae Beans/legumes C. lindemuthianum Cereals C. graminicola Mango C. gloeosporioides Onion C. circinans
Noteworthy, too, is that C. coccodes is also responsible for the similar ‘black dot’ disease in potatoes and other tubers.
The fungi that are associated with anthracnose tend to attack plants in the spring, doing so by attacking low level leaves and stems. The added moisture and elevated temperature of the spring is ideal to spread the fungal spores of genus Colletorichum which have spent their winter in the fallen twigs and leaves of the previous year’s growing season.
Anthracnose Control
The selection of proper seeding and planting materials, in addition to following planting and growing best practices are some of the most effective ways of preventing fungi of the genus Colletorichum from taking hold in the first instance. It is always important to purchase disease free seeds. It is crucial to remove any parts of the plant which appear to be infected as soon as possible.
Because of how the spores of genus Colletorichum spend winter, it is crucial to remove fallen leaves and twigs often both before and during the spring. Failure to do so will leave the door open to the spreading of the spores in the newly warm and moist climate.
Overall, it can be said that manual removal of affected fruits, leaves and shoots is the limit of non-chemical treatment of anthracnose across all plant species. Although removal of the pathogen via physical methods will result in less fungus surviving the winter and able to reproduce and infect other plants, any remaining spores may still cause damage in the next growing season. This is the case even if plants are well isolated from one another, as the fungal spores are transmitted by the wind.
Copper oxychloride Demildex, available from African Pegmatite, is the best treatment for anthracnose and scab which can protect yields for a longer period of time and in a more effective way than many other treatments. Copper oxychloride Demildex may be used to treat any plant prone to anthracnose, including, but not limited to, grape vines, mangos, avocados and apples.
How it is Used to Treat the Disease?
Fungal diseases such as anthracnose are more prone to attack at the beginning of the growing season - i.e. the spring - due to the enhanced moisture in the air and higher temperatures promoting the fungus’s transmission. However, to get rid of any stressed situation in a better way, it can be a better option to rely on this product which can protect the plants, fruits, and flowers from this serious disease.
Demildex is based on a perfectly reduced amount of copper oxychloride, which will not negatively affect the yield of plants but rather it will help plants to stay protected from any of the fungal or bacterial diseases for a longer period of time with few applications. Demildex creates an effective chemical barrier which will undoubtedly protect against fungal and bacterial invasion. Most importantly, this product does not contain lead and heavy metal particles to ensure the healthy and safe condition of the plants.
With the highly labour intensive and poorly effective manual means of control, the commercial grower may prefer to protect their crops using chemical means.
How it Saves Money in the Long Run by Preventing Problems and Saving Crops?
In a word, yes. Without any doubt, copper oxychloride is one of the most effective chemical solutions which is being used to treat various fungal infections in plants for a lengthy period of time. Copper based compounds have been used as the highly potent fungicides and bactericides for many decades. The use of copper oxychloride Demildex can prevent and treat the diseased areas of the plants. It will be dissolved slowly into the plant with watering and will keep the plants protected for a long period. Demildex provides a highly effective solution because of its ability to provide efficient and reliable results, without the need for continual reapplication and without the need to use it in high volumes. Demildex can help keep critical crops protected for the long run.
References
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