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Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is highly desirable as a condiment and is also used for medicinal purposes. In India, saffron is cultivated in 2,825 ha with a production of 6,048 t and an average yield of 2.28 kg/ha. Approximately 70 to 80% of the saffron crop in 25 commercial fields in the Kishtwar District of Jammu and Kashmir, India was affected with a corm rot from October 2005 to 2006. In newly infested fields, the disease occurred in small patches that gradually enlarged each year. Symptoms appeared as brown-to-dark brown sunken, irregular patches below corm scales. Lesions were usually 1 mm deep with raised margins. Severely infected corms had foliage that dried from the tip downward. White fungal mycelia appeared on the bulbs that rotted at later stages of disease development. Sclerotia formation was observed. For isolation of the pathogen, small bits of the infected tissue were surface sterilized in 0.1% mercuric chloride and washed three times in sterile distilled water. The surface-sterilized pieces were placed aseptically on potato dextrose agar and incubated at 28 ± 1°C for 3 days. The fungus was characterized by hard, brown-to-black sclerotia that was 1 to 2.1 mm in diameter with a pseudoparenchymatous rind. These were produced on sterile, cottony white mycelium with clamp connections. On the basis of morphological characteristics (3), the fungus was identified and deposited as Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. at the Indian Type Culture Collection Center, IARI-New Delhi as ID No. 6491.07. Pathogenicity tests were carried out in a growth chamber maintained at 28 ± 1°C. S. rolfsii was grown in potato dextrose broth for 7 days and then blended to make a mycelial suspension. Fifty milliliters (1 × 104 hyphal fragments per ml) of the suspension was mixed in each kilogram of sterilized soil and placed in pots. Healthy saffron corms were planted in 10 pots containing soil infested with S. rolfsii, and five pots with noninfested soil served as controls. Symptoms appeared on eight corms 9 to 10 days after planting. Signs of the pathogen in the form of mycelia and sclerotia were also present. The corms rotted and died 12 to 14 days after inoculation. Control plants did not display any symptoms. S. rolfsii was reisolated from infected bulbs, thus proving Koch's postulates. Corm rot caused by Fusarium spp., Penicillium spp., and Rhizoctonia spp. is also reported on saffron (2). Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli has been reported in Italy (1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of S. rolfsii as being pathogenic on saffron from India. References: (1) P. Di Primo and C. Cappelli. Plant Dis. 84:806, 2000. (2) M. G. Hassan and L. Sobita Devi. Indian Phytopathol. 56:122, 2003. (3) Z. K. Punja and A. Damiani. Mycologia 88:694, 1996.

While screening newly introduced cultivars of walnut (Juglans regia) at Bhaderwah (Mini Kashmir), Jammu and Kashmir, India in September 2008, 60% of grafted plants were found to be dying because of a cankerous growth observed on seedling stems. Later, these symptoms extended to lateral branches. In the surveyed nurseries, cvs. SKU 0002 and Opex Dachaubaria were severely affected by the disease. Cankers were also observed in all walnut nurseries in the area with several wild seedlings also being observed to be exhibiting similar cankerous symptoms on stem and branches. Necrotic lesions from cankerous tissues on seedling stems were surface disinfested with 0.4% NaOCl for 1 min and these disinfected cankerous tissues were grown on potato dextrose agar (potato-250 g, dextrose-15 g, agar-15 g, distilled water-1 liter). A Fusarium sp. was isolated consistently from these cankerous tissues, which was purified using single-spore culture. Carnation leaf agar was used for further culture identification (2,3). The fungal colony was floccose, powdery white to rosy in appearance when kept for 7 days at 25 ± 2°C. Macroconidia were straight to slightly curved, four to eight septate and 30 to 35 × 3.5 to 5.7 μm. These are characteristics consistent with Fusarium incarnatum (3). Pathogenicity was confirmed by spraying a conidial suspension (1 × 106 conidia/ml) onto bruised branches of 1-year-old walnut plants (cv. Opex Dachaubaria) while sterile distilled water sprays were used for the controls. Inoculated plants were incubated at 20 ± 2°C and 85% relative humidity for 48 h. Fifty days following inoculation, branch dieback followed by canker symptoms developed on inoculated plants. Control plants remained healthy with no symptoms of canker. F. incarnatum (Roberge) Sacc. was repeatedly isolated from inoculated walnut plants, thus satisfying Koch's postulates. Infected plant material has been deposited at Herbarium Crytogamae Indiae Orientalis (ITCC-6874-07), New Delhi. To our knowledge, this is the first report of walnut canker caused by F. incarnatum (Roberge) Sacc. from India. This fungus was previously reported to be affecting walnut in Italy (1) and Argentina (4). References: (1) A. Belisario et al. Informatore Agrario 21:51, 1999. (2) J. C. Gilman. A Manual of Soil Fungi. The Iowa State University Press, Ames, 1959. (3) P. E. Nelson et al. Fusarium Species. An Illustrated Manual for Identification. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1983. (4) S. Seta et al. Plant Pathol. 53:248, 2004.

Osmorhiza longistylis (Torr.) DC., commonly known as sweet cicely, is a dominant plant species in the wastelands of the Bhaderwah Valley of District Doda in the states of Jammu and Kashmir (India). The plant is a perennial herb found abundantly near water streams and irrigation channels. The herb has medicinal value and is being used to treat digestive disorders and used as an antiseptic wash. During a disease survey in July 2010, leaf samples collected from Bhaderwah (Gwari Research Farm of Regional Horticulture Research Substation-Bhaderwah (Doda), SKUAST-Jammu) had symptoms of a rust disease. Rust symptoms appeared as small, cream colored flecks on the lower surfaces of leaves. Numerous hypophyllous, narrow, linear lesions were observed. These lesions slowly enlarged and formed light brown, erumpent, and seriately arranged sori surrounded by yellow haloes. Sori originated beneath the epidermis but ruptured through the host epidermis on sporulation. In later stages, infection extended to the stem, flowering buds, inflorescence, and fruit seeds (1,3). Teliospores were uniformly two celled, reticulate with a yellowish brown wall, obovoid-ellipsoid or oblong-ellipsoid, and 30 to 40 × 20 to 27 μm. Aeciospores were subglobose and verrucose. Urediniospores were subglobose with a yellowish brown color and 23 to 30 × 21 to 27 μm. Uredia, telia, and aecia were observed on infected leaves (2). Infected plant material has been deposited and identified at the Herbarium Crytogamae Indiae Orientalis (HCIO 50095), New Delhi. To our knowledge, this is the first report of rust on O. longistylis caused by Puccinia pimpinellae from India. References: (1) K. M. Ghoneem et al. Plant Pathol. J. (Faisalabad) 8:165, 2009. (2) W. E. I. A. Saber et al. Afr. J. Microbiol. Res. 3:153, 2009. (3) W. I. A. Saber et al. Plant Pathol. J. (Faisalabad) 8:32, 2009.

Prophylactic fungicidal seed treatment, foliar fungicidal sprays and insecticidal sprays were compared in different combinations against the major pea pest complex. The severity of powdery mildew (Erysiphe polygoni), rust (Uromyces vinciae-fabae) and leaf blight (Ascochyta pisi), and damage caused by pod borer (Etiella zlnckenella) and leaf miner (Chromatomyia horticola) were recorded at their lowest level in treatments where fungicidal and insecticidal treatments were combined. The highest yield of 15.88 q/ha (quintals per hectare) was obtained when seeds were treated with carbendazim and thiram combined with two fungicidal foliar sprays each of mancozeb and dinocap followed by a single insecticidal spray of endosulfan. Results indicate that a combination of seed treatment, fungicidal sprays and insecticidal spray was more successful against the pea pest complex and increased yields compared to fungicides and insecticides used separately. Seed treatment alone did not reduce the severity of the diseases studied.