Characteristics and control methods of eggplant blossom rot

What should we do if we encounter eggplant blossom rot when growing eggplant? Let me tell you how to better prevent and control it.

Hazard characteristics

The main damage is to the flowers and fruits. The flowers turn brown and rot after infection, and the diseased flowers fall off or hang on the branches. The fruits turn brown and soft after infection, and the fruit stalks turn light brown or grayish white. The moisture in the diseased tissues disappears and gradually shrinks. When the humidity is high, the diseased parts are densely covered with white or grayish white fuzz.

Hairy, with terminal needle-shaped black sporangium stalks and sporangia.

Eggplant blossom end rot

Morphological characteristics of pathogens

Choanephora mandshurica (Saito. Et Nagamoto) Tai) is a fungus belonging to the subdivision of Zygomycetes. Both large and small sporangia are produced, mostly on the same hyphae. The large sporangia grow at the top of the erect unbranched conidiophores; the conidiophores are erect; the top of the main axis is bifurcated, the sporangium is 30 to 60 microns in diameter, and the sporangium spores have a bundle of cilia at each end. It harms the floral organs and fruits of solanaceous fruits, melons, and beans. In addition, C. cucurbitarum can also cause the disease.

Transmission routes and conditions for disease onset

The pathogen mainly stays in the soil as mycelium with diseased remains or produces zygospores to overwinter, and infects cucumber flowers and young cucumbers in the following spring. After the disease occurs, a large number of spores grow on the lesions, which are spread by wind, rain or insects. The fungus is highly saprophytic and can only invade flowers and fruits with weak vitality through wounds.

Eggplants grown in greenhouses are prone to disease if they are exposed to high temperature and high humidity and weak vitality, or low temperature and high humidity conditions, insufficient sunlight, water accumulation after rain, and many wounds.

Prevention and treatment methods

(1) Select high and dry land, apply sufficient compost or organic fertilizer fermented with Japanese enzyme bacteria, strengthen field management, and enhance disease resistance.

(2) Rotate crops with non-melon crops for more than three years.

(3) Use high-bed cultivation, reasonable density of planting, attention to ventilation, timely drainage after rain, and strictly prohibit flooding.

(4) After fruiting, remove the remaining flowers and diseased fruits promptly, bury them deep or burn them.

(5) From the flowering to the young fruit stage, spray 400-500 times of 64% antimicrobial WP or 1500 times of 50% benomyl WP, 600 times of 75% chlorothalonil WP, 500 times of 58% metalaxyl mancozeb WP, 800 times of 60% anti-mold superfine WP. Spray 70-75 liters of the right solution per 667 square meters, once every 10 days, and control 2-3 times. Stop using the medicine 3 days before harvest.