Screening of papaya cultivars against anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. and Sacc.

Abstract

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. and Sacc. is the most serious disease of papaya throughout the -world. No papaya cultivars reported showing resistance against this pathogen. Seventeen papaya (Carica papaya L.) cultivars were screened against anthracnose disease of papaya under laboratory conditions with the objective of identifying sources of resistance for the disease. Ten papaya fruits of each cultivar were inoculated with a spore suspension of C. gloeosporioides (106 spores/ml) and incubated for disease development under room temperature (28±1 °C) for one weeks. Disease severity and the per cent disease index (PDI) were calculated one week after the treatment. The reaction of different cultivars was classified into resistant, moderately resistant, susceptible and highly susceptible according to the PDII.Shillong, Pusa Dwarf, Solo and Washington cultivars showed susceptible to anthracnose, while all the other cultivars tested were highly susceptible. Data revealed that, there was no cultivar found resistant or moderately resistant to anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides