ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the identification of diseases in ginger plant. Ginger, Zingiber officinale, is an erect, herbaceous perennial plant in the family Zingiberaceae grown for its edible rhizome, which is widely used as a spice. The rhizomes of edible ginger are a valued spice or fresh herb ingredient in international cuisine. Bacterial wilt of ginger is a very destructive, parasitic disease. Ginger is a fibrous-rooted perennial plant with branched underground stems called rhizomes. The bacterial wilt of ginger is caused by a strain of Pseudomonas solanacearum. Edible ginger is used worldwide. Bacterial wilt of ginger can be distinguished from other rhizome rots of ginger by the condition of the rhizome and the foliage. Bacterial streaming, i.e., large populations of bacteria that exude from the cut surface of infected plant tissue when observed with a microscope or observed macroscopically when a diseased ginger rhizome is suspended in a glass or beaker of water.
