ABSTRACT
Ginger and turmeric are major spices of India as well as the world. These crops are perennial in nature but grown as annual for the uses of spices and medicinal purposes. Due to the clonal nature of the crops, genetic variability is very narrow, and to create the variability in traits is limited only by mutation and somaclonal variations. The narrow variability in genetics makes fewer opportunities in crop improvement for yield augmentation, disease resistance, agronomic suitability, and biochemical enhancement. The crop yielded poor evolving many factors, i.e., weather, agronomic practices, soil, and disease, etc., but diseases are major limiting factors that affect the quality and quantity of the products under field and storage conditions. The major diseases are evolved in ginger crops are Rhizome rot caused by Pythium spp., Yellow disease caused by Fusarium spp., Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, Leaf spot caused by Phyllosticta zingiberi. Major diseases of turmeric are Rhizome rot caused by Pythium spp., Colletotrichum leaf spot caused by Colletotrichum capsici, and Taphrina leaf blotch caused by Taphrina maculens. These diseases affect crops at different stages of crop growth and cause huge economic loss to grower. Due to the importance of the crop 298and its nature, a strong innovative approach in diagnosis and management is required for the welfare of the farming and trade communities.
