Amorphophallus (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius)

Tuber Rot (Phytophthora colocasiae, Sclerotium rolfsii, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Fusarium, and Rhizopus spp.)

Symptoms

  • Tubers of elephant foot yam are prone to several post harvest diseases due to high moisture content
  • Besides damaging the seed tubers, pathogen affecting tubers may also reduce sprouting.
  • Post harvest rotting of elephant foot yam is generally confined to outer surface at certain places on the tuber, but over a period, the pathogen penetrates deep inside the tuber leading to rotting and blackening of tubers in patches.
  • Infection slowly spreads to entire tuber leading to total loss of the infected tubers.

Management

  • Select tubers from healthy plants
  • Dip the planting materials in Trichoderma – cow dung slurry. (5g Trichoderma/ kg cowdung)
  • Soil application of Trichoderma enriched cow dung (1 kg/pit)
  • Remove and burn infected materials,
  • Incorporate neem cake to soil