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Horticultural crops :: Plantation :: Tea

Brown blight, grey blight: Colletotrichum sp., Pestalotiopsis sp.
Symptoms
  • Small, oval, pale yellow-green spots first appear on young leaves.
  • Often the spots are surrounded  by a narrow, yellow zone.
  • As the spots grow and turn brown or gray, concentric rings with scattered, tiny black dots become visible and eventually the dried tissue falls, leading to defoliation.
  • Leaves of any age can be affected.
Brown blight Grey blight Concentric rings Infected leaves

Life Cycle

  • The tiny, black spots on the lesions contain the fungal spores.
  • Rain splash transports the spores from one plant or site of infection to another.
  • If the spores land on a leaf, they germinate to start a new leaf spot or a latent infection.

Management

  • Avoid plant stress.
  • Grow tea bushes with adequate spacing to permit air to circulate and reduce humidity and the duration of leaf wetness.
  • Spray Copper Oxy Chloride or Bordeaux mixture 0.1% during winter season and Summer season

Content validator:
Dr. M. Deivamani, Assistant Professor, Horticulture Research Station, Yercaud-636602.

Image source:
Keith, l., Ko, W.H and Sato D.M. 2006. Identification Guide for Diseases of Tea (Camellia sinensis). Plant Disease, 33, pp-1-4.

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