An insight into sugarcane wilt in India

Wilt is one of the important diseases of sugarcane. The disease incidence may range from 0-75% in different sugarcane varieties under variable climatic conditions in India. It is more than 100 years when the disease was first reported in India, but still a lot of work is required in this field. The detail and extensive studies on the pathogenicity, epidemiology, population biology, variability, host resistance and management of the associated pathogens of wilt are needed to accelerate the research in this field. The disease is mainly confined to Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana where moderate to severe incidence of wilt was recorded, while the disease has been found in traces in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Conflicting claims have been made by many workers regarding true causal organism of wilt. Along with Fusarium, two genera i.e. Cephalosporium and Acremonium were found to be associated with the disease under different climatic conditions in India. Though, based on morphological and molecular characteristics SBI, Coimbatore claimed that the pathogen of wilt is Fusarium sacchari in tropical climate of India, but more research is needed on wilt of sugarcane in sub-tropical parts of India.