Field Diagnostic Symptoms

• Severe stunting of plants
• Downward rolling and crinkling of the leaves
• Older leaves become leathery and brittle
• Shortening of internodes
• Appearence of more lateral branches - bushy appearance

Infected plant	Downward curling of leaf

Causal organism -

• Tomato leaf curl virus (TLCV)

Vector :

• Whiteflies –Bemisia tabaci

Survival and Mode of Spread

Primary spread:

• Whiteflies.

Secondary spread:

• Movement of infected plants

Integrated Disease Management

• Raising nursery in protected condition
• Growing Sorghum, Maize or Bajra as barrier crop
• Use of disease free seeds
• Yellow sticky traps @ 5nos./ac
• Remove alternate weed host - Abutilon indicum
• Spraying Dimethoate 30 EC @ 200 ml/ac or Methyl demeton 25 EC @ 200 ml/ac or Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 200 g/ac or Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 200 ml/ac

Source of Information

• https:www.apsnet.org.
• Crop production guide – Horticulture 2020.

Acknowledgement

• Photo courtesy by Dr.P.Renukadevi, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, TNAU, Coimbatore.