Diseases Of Cabbage During Storage, How To Preserve The Harvest

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

What diseases does cabbage suffer during storage?

It is important for every gardener to know the symptoms of diseases of the stored crop of plants, be it cabbage, carrot or beet root crops, potato tubers, garlic or onion bulbs, apple or tomato fruits. Thus, he will find out what diseases prevail on his site, and for the next growing season he will be able to prepare to meet them "fully armed" and achieve a decrease in the prevalence of diseases.

A rare gardener does not plant cabbage on his plot, since it rightfully belongs to the most favorite vegetables. The value of cabbage is that it contains mineral nutrients that are essential for the human and animal body.

It is also known that in the heads of cabbage, its most used form, there is a significant amount of water, cabbage is also high in sugar, there are easily digestible proteins and nitrogenous substances. For this reason, stored cabbage is a favorable breeding ground for the successful development of pathogenic and saprophytic microflora.

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During a long period of its cultivation, a long-term process of selection work, cabbage, like any agricultural plant, has lost some of the mechanisms of natural resistance and acquired many pathogenic pathogens as enemies. In order to keep the crop of this crop fresh in the winter as long as possible, breeders have developed a wide variety of cabbage varieties. Such varieties as Turkins,

Amager 611 and

Slava 1305, for example, are

specially designed for 3-5 months of maintenance.

The duration of storage of cabbage heads imposes its own characteristics on its relationship with disease pathogens, which cannot be ignored. Let us dwell on the description of the signs of some of the most harmful and visually recognizable diseases of this culture.

The most common

mycosis (fungal disease) of stored cabbage is considered to be gray rot (botrytis). The causative agent of the disease, a polyphagous microorganism, is capable of affecting the harvest of many agricultural plants (apple trees, strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, carrots, eggplants and other vegetable crops). Fungal infection in the form of mycelium in excess is found in the field on plant residues from agricultural crops of previous years.

The disease begins its development with mechanical damage caused to heads of cabbage by pests, tools during harvesting, transportation and bulkheads. It manifests itself on heads of cabbage by the end of the growing season and during storage in the form of mucus (wet rot of a non-bacterial nature) of the surface layers of leaves, which, in whole or in separate areas, are covered with a fluffy bloom of gray color. In the future, small sclerotia (often along the veins) up to 6-7 mm in size are formed on diseased heads of cabbage; when cut, they are brown in color.

Sclerotia can be a perennial source of infection both in the field and in storage. The infection often settles on frozen or physiologically weakened tissues, especially on cracked heads of cabbage. Infection is facilitated by the absence of green integumentary leaves. The disease is characterized by a very high harmfulness, since during storage it spreads from an infected head of cabbage to healthy ones, not only during their contact, but also through the air, by spores.

White rot(sclerotinosis) can also affect a large number of cruciferous and other agricultural plant species. The disease manifests itself on the outer leaves of the heads of cabbage closer to the end of the growing season (especially when rainy weather occurs during the harvesting period). Rotting, the leaves become licky, a cotton-like mycelium of white color appears between them. If the external signs of mycosis are not noticeable at the time of harvesting, then the disease is actively manifested in the storage conditions, and the heads of cabbage rot in a matter of weeks, turning into a serious source of infection for healthy plant material. Unlike gray rot, flat black sclerotia in white rot grows rather quickly to 2-3 cm.

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Mucous bacteriosis(wet rot) cabbage is noted towards the end of the growing season in the form of mucousness of the surface leaves (or even a whole head of cabbage) and rotting of the core of the stump. In its cross section, the tissue there is of a soft consistency, decomposed, with a characteristic unpleasant odor, i.e. already with typical signs of this bacteriosis. The pathogen is capable of attacking plant tissues, weakened or frostbitten, mechanically injured (by tools and pests), overripe and cracked, affected by other diseases, and also penetrate through the root system into stumps. When a diseased head of cabbage decomposes, a large amount of liquid is formed, which is a distributor of bacterial infection.

This bacteriosis is very harmful during storage, especially if its infectious process is accompanied by the development of fungal pathogens. It should be added that this pathogen is also capable of infecting mechanically damaged root crops of potatoes, carrots, beets and other vegetables in contact with rotting heads of cabbage.

Vascular bacteriosisthey are also noted in the field, but much less often than the previous bacteriosis, since its pathogen loves dry hot weather. Its characteristic feature is chlorotic coloration and darkening of leaf veins. The pathogen affects the vascular bundles of the leaves of the head. With a transverse or longitudinal section through the central vein or leaf petiole, black dots or stripes of the affected vessels are clearly visible. The defeat of the stump manifests itself in the form of blackening of the vascular ring. Warm autumn with frequent rains contributes to the active development of this disease.

In dry and cold autumn weather, infected heads of cabbage can be stored with a hidden bacterial infection. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to visually distinguish the signs of this disease from similar symptoms in cabbage grown with an excess of nitrogen fertilizers (physiological disorder).

Measures to control the spread of these infectious diseases during storage of cabbage are approximately the same. Before laying the heads of cabbage for the autumn-winter maintenance, the storage room is carefully cleaned and disinfected with disinfectants. When harvesting, transporting and sorting, make sure that the heads of cabbage are injured as little as possible.

The cabbage is delivered to the storage location with the covering leaves. They are removed only during the laying of the heads. Varieties of different maturity are kept separately from each other. To curb the development of infectious diseases of cabbage in winter, the optimum temperature must be observed. For storage of most varieties of food cabbage, it is 0 … -1 ° C with a humidity of 90-95%. When the temperature rises, the decay process accelerates and the infection spreads in the mass of heads of cabbage. The higher the temperature above the specified optimal level, the more activity of the causative agents of these diseases.

When rot appears in the mass of cabbage, it is necessary to select diseased heads of cabbage, clean it up and, if possible, first of all sell them. If it is planned to get cabbage seeds in the second year of cultivation, then in this case stumps (testicles) are laid in the storage only from healthy heads of cabbage.

In addition to infectious diseases during storage of cabbage, non-infectious (physiological or non-parasitic) diseases are also note

which are mainly associated with unfavorable weather conditions and with unbalanced fertilization during the growing season of cabbage plants.

Layering of cabbagecause unfavorable weather conditions that develop for young plants during the first half of a hot dry summer. During the setting of heads, some young leaves turn brown at the edges, but continue to grow. As a result, dry layers are formed inside the heads of cabbage due to such leaves. If the storage conditions for diseased heads of cabbage are respected, the layering does not seriously affect the preservation of such cabbage. However, with the weakening of physiological processes, the tissues of diseased leaves are primarily exposed to pathogenic and saprophytic bacterial and fungal microflora.

Foggy headsmanifests itself in the form of dying off and decay of inner leaves, which is associated with prolonged storage of plant material at low temperatures -2 … -3 ° C. This is due to the fact that frozen leaves and ice layers between them prevent the flow of oxygen to the central part of the heads of cabbage and the respiration process. With a denser structure, heads of cabbage (varieties

Podarok,

Amager 611) form more such interlayers than with a looser one.

On a note

• Scientists have found that if you regularly include cabbage in your diet, your chances of getting cancer are greatly reduced. In addition, it is a good source of beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, and cabbage contains iron, calcium and potassium.
• Whichever cabbage you choose, it should feel heavy for its size, no dents, with fresh leaves.
• To prepare cabbage with tight-fitting leaves for cooking, you need to cut it into 4 parts, cut out the stump and then chop it as indicated in the recipe.
• To get rid of the cabbage smell that comes from boiling cabbage, add stronger-smelling foods to the water - wine, garlic, or bacon.