A General Review Paper on Red Rot of Sugarcane (Saccharum Officinarum) and its Management

Sugarcane is an important agro industrial crop of the world. India being the largest consumer as well as the second largest producer of sugar, so, it requires sugarcane production on large scale. But diseases are the major concern for the sugarcane, responsible for its low yield. Among all the diseases, fungal disease named red rot of sugarcane is the most threatening disease of sugarcane, rightly called as 'Cancer' of sugarcane. It causes severe loss in yield and quality of the sugarcane. As the fungus Colletotrichum falcatum responsible for this disease is highly variable in nature, hence, it causes the frequent breakdown of resistant varieties. The application of Trichoderma harzianum is eco-friendly, economical and efficient approach for disease suppression and improving growth of the sugarcane plant. So, it becomes imperative to know the field performance of T. harzianum against red rot and quantitative attributes of sugarcane. Before this, longevity test was conducted to know the viability of formulated product under proper storage condition and keeping in view the seriousness of this disease, the present review summarizes the distribution, mode and source of infection, description of casual pathogen and disease management.