Fungal and Bacterial Diseases of Medicinal Plants in and around the Historical Burdwan District, West Bengal, India: Symptoms, Diagnostic Evidence and Integrated Control
Sayani Datta
Applied and Molecular Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, India.
Uma Lakshan
Applied and Molecular Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, India.
Priti Jaiswal
Applied and Molecular Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, India.
Sikha Dutta *
Applied and Molecular Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Medicinal plants cultivated and collected in the historical Burdwan district of West Bengal are vulnerable to foliar blights, vascular wilts and soft rots, yet the distinction between locally verified disease records and reports from neighbouring regions remains insufficiently developed. This critical narrative review examines fungal and bacterial pathogens, together with agriculturally important fungal-like oomycetes, in medicinal crops of regional relevance. Peer-reviewed host–pathogen investigations, Indian plant-disease studies, research on biological and integrated control, and local ethnobotanical evidence were selected and interpreted according to their geographic directness, diagnostic reliability, experimental design and medicinal-quality endpoints. Confirmed reports from elsewhere in West Bengal implicate Colletotrichum siamense and Fusarium incarnatum in different disorders of holy basil and Alternaria alternata in bacopa leaf blight. Studies from other Indian regions describe Alternaria-related ashwagandha leaf spot, pathogen complexes affecting ginger and turmeric rhizomes, and fungal–bacterial interactions in aloe soft rot. The strongest findings concern specific causal associations and mechanisms under documented study conditions; defensible prevalence estimates for Purba and Paschim Bardhaman remain unavailable. Overlapping symptoms and potentially sequential infections make organism-level diagnosis essential before disease-specific interventions are selected. Sanitation, clean propagules, site-adjusted moisture management and traceable planting stock are generally prudent preventive measures. Host resistance and selected microbial antagonists are promising but require crop-, isolate- and environment-specific verification, particularly where experimental antagonists may pose human-health risks. Evaluation of control should consider marketable medicinal organs, constituent profiles and microbiological safety rather than visual disease severity alone. District-level surveillance, diagnostic reference collections and replicated low-risk management trials offer the most credible route from regional evidence to locally valid recommendations.
Keywords: Medicinal plant pathology, purba bardhaman, paschim bardhaman, leaf blight, rhizome soft rot, bacterial wilt, biological control, pathogen diagnosis