UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION NO. 541 



Washington, D. C. 



October 1944 



MARKET DISEASES OF FRUITS 

 AND VEGETABLES: 



Beets, Endive, Escarole, Globe Artichokes, 



Lettuce, Rhubarb, Spinach, Swiss Chard, 



and Sweetpotatoes l 



By Glen B. Ramsey, senior pathologist, and James S. Wiant, associate patholo- 

 gist, Division of Fruit and Vegetable Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Indus- 

 try, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Administration 



CONTENTS 



Page 

 2 



Bacterial soft rot 2 



Black rot (heart rot) ' 2 



Cercospora leaf spot . 3 



Gray mold rot 3 



Internal black spot 3 



Scab 4 



Endive and escarole 4 



Bacterial soft rot 4 



Leaf discolorations 5 



Watery soft rot 5 



Globe artichokes 5 



Freezing injury 6 



Gray mold rot 6 



Lettuce 7 



Bacterial soft rot 8 



Brown blight 8 



Downy mildew 9 



Gray mold rot 9 



Spotted wilt 10 



Tipburn 10 



Watery soft rot (sclerotinia rot) 11 



Rhubarb 12 



Anthracnose 13 



Bacterial soft rot 13 



Gray mold rot 13 



Phytophthora rots (foot and crown rots) 14 



Stem spot (leaf spot) 15 



Spinach - 15 



Bacterial soft rot 16 



Downy mildew 17 



Heterosporium leaf spot 18 



White rust 18 



Swiss chard 19 



Sweetpotatoes 19 



Black rot 20 



Blue moldrot 21 



Charcoal rot 21 



Chilling injury (low-temperature break- 

 down) 22 



Dry rot 23 



End rots 23 



Foot rot 23 



Freezing injury 24 



Gray moldrot 25 



Growth cracks 25 



Internal break-down 25 



Java blackrot 25 



Mottle necrosis (ring rot) .26 



Mucor rot 27 



Rhizopus soft rot 28 



Scurf 30 



Soil rot (pox) 31 



Stem rot (wilt) 31 



Surface rot 32 



Literature cited 33 



3 This publication is the ninth in a series designed to aid in the recognition and identifi- 

 cation of pathological conditions of economic importance affecting fruits and vegetables 

 in the channels of marketing, to facilitate the market inspection of these food products, 

 and to prevent losses from such conditions. It represents an extended revision and elab- 

 oration, with the addition of colored, illustrations, of a preliminary publication entitled 

 "Handbook of Diseases of Vegetables Occurring Under Market, Storage, and Transit 

 Conditions," prepared by George K. K. Link and Max W. Gardner, and published by the 

 Department of Agriculture in 1919 especially for the use of the food-products inspectors 

 of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and never distributed to the public. The original 

 colorings for plates 3 ; 5, A ; 8 ; and 9 are by Glen B. Ramsey. The colored photographs 

 for plates 4 ; 5, B, G, D ; 6 ; and 12 were prepared in collaboration with Webster Bros., 

 Chicago, 111. The photographs for plates 14 ; 15, C ; and 18 were furnished by L. L. Harter, 

 of the Division of Fruit and Vegetable Crops and Diseases, and that for plate 10, C, by 

 H. H. Zimmerley, of the Virginia Truck Experiment Station. 



The previous Miscellaneous Publications of this series are No. 98 (potatoes), No. 121 

 (tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants), No. 168 (apples, pears, and quinces), No. 228 (peaches, 

 plums, cherries, and other stone fruits), No. 292 (crucifers and cucurbits), No. 340 (grapes 

 and other small fruits), No. 440 (asparagus, onions, beans, peas, carrots, celery, and related 

 vegetables), and No. 498 (citrus and other subtropical fruits). 



579410 c 



