Fungal diseases of tomato

Abstract

Until comparatively recently the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) was grown in Papua New Guinea only as a minor crop in subsistence gardens and in some commercial market gardens (see Dodd, 1979). Now, to help satisfy the demands of a rapidly increasing town population, and to reduce expensive imports, commercial tomato production has been significantly increased. This has been mainly by the use of intensive farming techniques. As a result of these techniques, a number of economically  important fungal diseases have appeared. For this paper, information collected by the Plant Pathology Section of the Department of Primary Industry was used to identify the most common, and potentially serious, fungal diseases of commercially grown tomatoes in Papua New Guinea. These diseases are described and recommendations are made for their control.