Assessment and diagnostic of cashew seedling diseases in nurseries in Benin

ABSTRACT

Cashew plantations are established mainly from young seedlings from nurseries. These seedlings can be sources of disease contamination in plantations. In this paper, the perception of cashew nursery producers on the diseases associated with cashew seedlings and their management methods, the inventory and distribution of these diseases in three agroecological zones (AEZ) of Benin were investigated. Thus, a survey was conducted in the three AEZs to collect data on nursery management and samples of diseased seedlings. The results revealed anthracnose development caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, bacterial leaf spot caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. anacardii and black spot disease caused by Phyllosticta sp. on cashew seedlings in nurseries in the three AEZ. Significant differences, high disease incidence and severity were recorded across AEZs, municipalities and sites (p < 0.05). The highest incidence and severity were 19.33 and 8.8%, respectively for anthracnose, 23.10 and 8.9% for bacterial leaf spot, 18 and 2.76% for black spot disease.

Keywords: Cashew seedlings, production system, diseases, management.