Disease of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. gaertn.) in Uganda

During the period 1976-1978 a study of finger millet diseases was undertaken at the university farm Kabanyolo. It was found that the most important diseases were blast, cylindrosporium leaf spot, tar spot, sclerotium wilt and bacterial blight. Blast caused damage to seedlings, leaves, nodes, necks and heads but the most severe damage resulted from neck and head infection. Cylindrosporium sp. caused heavy leaf spotting leading to a blight. The newly recorded bacterium, Xanthomonas coracanae desai et. al., killed a number of lines (particularly the B lines in the world collection) but some lines showed no field symptoms at all. Tar spot caused extensive damage on leaves of some lines. Other diseases found to attack finger millet included Damping off (pythius spp.), foot rot (fusarium sp.), Helminthosporium leaf spots (H. nodulosum anFd H. leucostylum), Pyrenophora seedling blight, leaf streak (probably a virus disease), a stunt disease resembling the rice stunt virus disease and other "virus-like diseases". Nine lines were selected in April 1977 and grown at four locations of Uganda: the University Farm represented the humid lake Victoria shore region, Serere represented the wet and dry part of Eastern Uganda, Ngetta which is also wet and dry represented conditions prevalent in Northern Uganda while Kalengyere represented the highlands to provide a cool environment as a comparison. At all the four stations, blast tar spot and Cylindrosporium leaf spot were the most important diseases and were most severe at Kalengyere while Helminthosporium leaf spots, which were rare in Kabanyolo, were common in Kalengyere.