Important fungal diseases of potato and their management – a brief review

Edible potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is ranked fourth among the staple food crop and fifth for human consumption. It is a vegetative propagated crop and a large number of pests and diseases can be carried from one generation to the next. Pathogens including fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes caused significant yield losses in field and storage conditions. Blights (Phytophthora infestans, Alternaria solani and Phoma spp.), powdery scab (Spongospora subterranea), wart (Synchytrium endobioticum), watery wound rot (Pythium ultimum), gangrene (Phoma exigua var. foveta), silver scurf (Helminthosporium solani), pink rot (Phytophthora erythroseptica), dry rot (Fusarium spp.), black scurf (Rhizoctonia solani), skin spot (Polyscytalum pustulans), wilt of potato (Verticillium sp.) and charcoal rot (Macrophomina phaseolina) are the most destructive fungal diseases and reduced the quality, quantity and market value of potato tubers. This brief review paper demonstrates the symptoms and management strategies against important fungal diseases of potato.