Academe Research Journals

International Journal of Agricultural Science Research

Full Length Research Paper

Ectropis deodarae and fungal pathogen: A potential threat to Cedrus deodara in the Himalayan forestry

Tanuja Mishra¹, Baljinder Singh², Prabhjot Kaur Gill¹*

¹Department of Biotechnology, Eternal University, Baru Sahib (Sirmour), Himachal Pradesh, India (173101).

²Department of Biotechnology, Shri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, (141406), India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: pjk_gill@yahoo.com.

Accepted 16 July, 2015

Abstract

The affected deodar forest is located about 95 km (Habban) from Solan Himachal Pradesh, India where deodar is the dominant species in the entire forest and forms almost pure stands. More than 500 trees in 3 different sites were dried, and died and others are standing in various stages of decay. Defoliated patches of deodar tress were visible from long distance giving an unhealthy, brownish and burnt appearance from a long distance.The objectives of this study were to identify the different causes of defoliation of deodar forests. Among them major was insect damage caused by Ectropis deodarae (deodar defoliator), as well as mites which were also associated along with different fungal strains. Seven genera of fungi were also isolated from the infected forest of Cedrus deodara. These fungi were identified as Phytophthora sp., Fusarium sp., Aspergillus sp.,Alternaria sp., and Trichoderma species on the basis of morphological as well as microscopic examination. Among all the isolates, Phytophthora species was the most prevalent in all the samples collected. Therefore further study was conducted on the pathogenicity of the Phytophthora on the different plants leaves, which resulted in the total defoliation of the leaves. Furthermore, Trichoderma sp. was observed as the most effective antagonists against the Phytophthora. So, potent biocontrol agents against pathogens infecting C. deodara are the need of the hour.