Prevalence of black leaf spot of papaya caused by Asperisporium caricae in Tamil Nadu, India

Papaya crop is affected by several fungal and viral diseases that cause a great threat to papaya cultivation worldwide. In Tamil Nadu, recently severe incidence of black leaf spot caused by Asperisporium caricae was observed in commercially grown papaya varieties. The disease has been documented with pathogen characters and discussed in this paper with a view to give due importance to under take steps to mitigate the crop loss.