ARS | Publication request: DACTULIOPHORA LEAF SPOT OF PEARL MILLET IN NIGER AND MALI

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: December 3, 1999
Publication Date: February 1, 2000
Citation: Wilson, J.P., Hess, D.E., Kumar, K.A. 2000. Dactuliophora leaf spot of pearl millet in niger and mali. Plant Disease 84:201.

Interpretive Summary: The center of origin for pearl millet lies primarily in sub-Saharan west Africa, thus, this region is expected to have the greatest diversity of disease associations. Pearl millet growing in Niger and Mali was observed to be infected with a distinctive leaf spot which is subject to some controversy. Symptoms of this disease are similar to that of zonate leaf spot of sorghum, which is caused by a cosmopolitan pathogen, Gloeocercospora sorghi. The disease of pearl millet is often attributed to G. sorghi, although the disease on pearl millet in Nigeria was previously determined to be caused by Dactuliophora elongata, which is the only location from which this pathogen has been reported. Specimens of diseased pearl millet in Niger and Mali were examined and determined to be the result of infection by D. elongata. This report clarifies the etiology of the disease and the geographic distribution of the pathogen. Because D. elongata can cause severe foliar disease and is not found in the United States, pearl millet from sub-Saharan Africa grown in quarantine should be carefully examined for presence of the disease.

Technical Abstract: Not required