Biodiversity Monitoring & Vegetable Pathogens Surveillance Mapping from Kazakhstan

Abstract

Advance disease monitoring systems are important to underpin food security and may support productivity increases by addressing adverse climatic mutations. To foster sustainable ecosystem management cost-effective feasible and uniform disease monitoring is needed to model the outcomes and alterations in vegetation diversity of Kazakhstan. A descriptive survey was carried out during the consecutive years (2021-23) leading diagnosis and incidence of disease-causing organisms on cabbage and tomato grown in the main vegetable production regions of Kazakhstan. Disease samples were collected, followed by pathogens isolation and morphological characterization. A total of 10 deteriorating pathogens (Alternaria brassica, Alternaria solani, Candidatus Phytoplasma solani, Cladosporium fulvum, Fusarium oxysporum, Pectobacterium carotovorum, Phoma lingam, Rhizoctonia solani, Rhizoctonia and Xanthomonas spp.,) were recorded during survey, where calcium deficiency was also reported effecting vegetable crops quality. Among various threatening rots identified F. oxysporum initiating fusarium wilt was significant on cabbage in each location, with up to 100% incidence. Whereas Alternaria solani causing Alternaria leaf blight was the most common and devastating disease affecting tomato crop, followed by A. brassicae, an important leaf spot pathogen of cabbage, that was only observed in Turkestan oblast. It is pertinent to mention that the options for fungicide and biocontrol agents as a disease management strategy in Kazakhstan are limited due to cost and societal standards. This survey initiates prior data provision on multi-pathogenic diseases in Kazakhstan vegetable growing areas and provides direction for adopting advance technologies viz remote sensing and spectral imaging to timely implement suitable management practices meeting future challenges.