Cochliobolus bicolor was isolated from small, dull brown, round to irregular spots on pearl millet foliage in India in 1967. After controlled inoculations, small water-soaked lesions developed within 48 hours of incubation. During the subsequent 48 hours, lesions turned from light yellowish green through yellowish grey, light grey, and finally dark grey as a result of profuse sporulation of the pathogen. Lesions eventually covered large areas of the leaf and ultimately caused drying of the entire leaf. The pathogen was identified as the conidial stage of Cochliobolus bicolor (anamorph: Bipolaris bicolor) (Misra and Singh 1974). Additional occurrences of infection of pearl millet have not been reported, however. See table 2 for other Bipolaris species reported to be pathogenic to Pennisetum.
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Original posting: June 5, 1999.