Abstract:

Wilt is a pernicious disease and a curse to guava industry. First external symptom of the disease is the appearance of yellow colouration with slight curling of the leaves of the terminal branches. Plants, at a later stage, show unthrifty-ness with yellow to reddish discoloration of leaves. Subsequently, there is premature shedding of leaves. Some of the twigs become bare and fail to bring forth new leaves or flowers and eventually dry up. Fruits of all the affected branches remain underdeveloped, hard and stony. Later, the entire plant is defoliated and eventually dies (Fig. 1). The roots also show rotting at the basal region and the bark is easily detachable from the cortex. Light brown discoloration is also noticed in vascular tissues. The pathogen attacks young as well as old fruit bearing trees but older trees are more prone to the disease.