Isolation and characterization of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae from bacterial blight of pomegranate

Abstract

Successful pomegranate cultivation in recent years has met with different constraints such as pest and diseases. One of the most important diseases of pomegranate in India is Bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. Punicae (X. axonopodis pv. Punicae), which brings down the domestic and export production by 80 per cent. Pomegranate bacterial blight pathogen was isolated from nine different locations of Tamil Nadu and their morphological characters were studied. Based on the morphological and biochemical characterization of the pathogen was identified as the X. axonopodis pv. Punicae. The DNA of X. axonopodis pv. Punicae isolates were extracted and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by ITS forward primer 799 and reverse primer 1193.Based on the expression of amplicon at 491 bp, all isolates of the pathogen was confirmed as the X. axonopodis pv. Punicae.