Mango sooty mould is one of the species of fungi that grow on honeydew results from interactions among sap-feeding insects such as soft scale (wax, green and cottony cushion scales), mealybugs, aphids, whiteflies and treehoppers and non-parasitic fungi. Disease is severe in old and dense orchards where light intensity is low. Trees exposed to eastern side have fewer incidences while the trees in center of the orchard have more incidences.
Among the symptoms of mango sooty mould:
*Black velvety covering on the leaf surface. As parasitic insects use the sugary honeydew as a food source, the sooty mould fungi begin to grow on the sugars left by insects on the foliage, turning the leaf surface to black.
*The fungus grows on the leaf surface on the sugary substances secreted by jassids, aphids and scale insects.
*The entire leaf surface may be covered or initially the symptoms may be present only as flakes on the leaf.
*Black encrustations are formed on the surfaces of different parts of the plant. The photosynthetic ability of the plant is highly reduced.
*Under dry spell such affected leaves curl and shrivel. The severity of infection depends on the honey dew secretions by the scale insects
Mango sooty mould
