ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on diseases of castor, their symptoms, pathogen characters, epidemiology, and management. The diseases covered are seedling blight, rust, leaf blight, brown leaf spot, powdery mildew, stem rot, wilt, and bacterial leaf spot. The pathogen hyphae collect beneath the epidermis and form a hymenial layer. Clusters of conidiophores emerge through stomata or epidermis. The pathogen remains as dormant mycelium in the plant debris. The disease mainly spreads through wind borne conidia. Wilting of plants, root degeneration, collar rot, drooping of leaves and necrosis of affected tissue and finally leading to death of plants. Bacterial ooze is observed on both the sides of the leaf which is in the form of small shining beads or fine scales. Field sanitation help in minimizing the yield loss as pathogen survives on seed and plant debris. Sudden wilting of plants in patches under high moisture stress coupled with high soil temperature.
