ABSTRACT
Diseases increasing in frequency include cyst nematodes, root-knot and reniform nematodes, frog eye leaf spot, Diaporthe diseases, charcoal rot and seedling diseases. Charcoal rot was a minor disease of soybean until 2004 in India, due to altered weather conditions on the account of longer drought during the crop growth period. In India, Charcoal rot is one of the diseases causing most yield losses of the crop. Charcoal rot had more yield loss in India since 2004 due to rainfall and greater periods of drought and most damage in the major soybean states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. The charcoal rot on soybean plants can be observed as black and dusty speckled of microsclerotia on stems, pods and seeds as well as interior tissues like vascular, cortical, and pith tissues. The infected tissues are covered with black fruiting bodies of the fungus; seeds become shrivelled, mouldy and brown.
