LIBRARY 
NEW YeRk 
BOTANICAL 
GARDEN 
DIE-BACK OF CHILLIES (CAPSICUM SPP.) IN 
BITAR: 
BY 
JEHANGIR FARDUNJI DASTUR, M.S:., 
Offg Se ond Imperial Mycologis!. 
{Received for publication on 23rd Apri!, 1921.] 
THE most serious disease of chillies (Capsicum annuum and C. 
frutescens) in Bihar is the die-back disease, due to Vermicularia Capsici 
Syd., which causes considerable damage to the crop, in years when there 
is continuous rain or high humidity in the latter half of September and 
beginning of October. In Bihar, the disease first appears in the end 
of September or in the first half of October, when the plants are mature 
and have commenced to flower. It spreads virulently from field to field. 
In severe cases of attack the plants are either completely killed or so 
badly diseased that the yield of healthy fruits is negligible. The first nip of 
the dry cold weather puts a sudden check to the progress of the disease which 
eventually dies away ;the plants then recover and put forth new healthy 
shoots. The critical period when the plants are subject to the attack of 
the disease is, therefore, of a short duration, about four to six weeks. 
Plants growing under shade have been observed to suffer very little from 
this disease. Late sown crops are also very little affected but unfortunately 
yield a very poor return. Fruits that mature before the beginning of 
December get badly diseased, to the extent of about 35 per ceut., but those 
that ripen later escape the disease, the percentage of infected fruits after 
the middle of this month being negligible. 
Macroscopic characters. 
(a) Lhe stem. The attack as a rule commences from the growing point 
or the flower-bud, and therefore the presence of the disease in the early staye 
of attack 1s marked by the top of the affected branches withering and turning 
brown (Plate I, fig. 2). The plant dies back as the attack spreads downwards: 
(e129), ) ] 
