Studies on morpho-cultural characters of Alternaria alternate infecting groundnut crop by using various culture media

Abstract

Alternaria alternatais one of the most important foliar fungus causing leaf blight of Groundnut. A. alternata’s cultural characters were studied on different culture media viz., Corn meal agar, Conn’s agar, Czapek’s dox agar, Potato dextrose agar, Malt extract agar, Richard’s agar, V-8 juice, Host leaf extract agar (20%), Host stem extract (20%) and Host root extract (20%) as well as morphological characters such as mycelial growth, colony colour, colony diameter and sporulation etc. were observed after specific period. The various culture media tested revealed preference of A. Alternate to PDA exhibit black to brownish colour colony, with excellent sporulation (++++), with large sized conidia (42.15 - 47.16 μm) and significantly highest mycelial growth (90 mm), was produced followed by Malt extract agar (85mm), Host leaf extract agar (84mm), Host stem extract agar (82mm), Richard’s agar (78mm), Conn’s agar (65mm), Host root extract agar (52mm), Czapek’s dox agar (40mm) and V-8 juice (38mm), respectively.