Rachidatou SIKIROU^1*, Vincent EZIN², Feston BEED^2,3, Sètondji Alban Paterne ETCHIHA AFOHA¹, Félicien Dji-ndé TOSSO⁴ and Franck OUESSOU IDRISSOU¹

¹Laboratoire de Défense des Cultures, Centre de Recherches Agricoles d’Agonkanmey,
Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin (INRAB), 01 BP 884 Cotonou, Bénin.
²International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, BP 08932, Cotonou, Bénin.
³AVRDC- The World Vegetable Center, 4th Floor, Research & Development Building, Kasetsart University Bangkhen, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Mailing address: P.O. Box 1010 (Kasetsart), Bangkok 10903, Thailand.
⁴Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526 Cotonou, Bénin.
^*Corresponding author, E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Tel.: +229 97882620

ABSTRACT

Tomato is one of the most economically important vegetable crops in Benin and its production represents more than 51% of the total production of vegetable crops. The ecological peculiarity of its farming exposes it to diseases and pests. Tomato wilt constitutes the major phytosanitary constraint for its production. To identify the causal agents, a survey was carried out across the 12 departments of Benin. Three districts were selected per department and three villages in each district were surveyed. Two farmer’s fields were visited per village where five diseased plants were collected per field. Three pathogens identified from the samples collected in the diseased fields: Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and F. solani. Pathogenicity test conducted for each of the isolated pathogens was positive. The symptoms observed in greenhouse were exactly the same as those recorded in the field. The prévalence of tomato wilting recorded in farmer’s fields varies from 0.1% to 27% for S. rolfsii, from 3% to 20% for F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, and from 1% to 3% for F. solani. The most disseminated and most devastating pathogen was S. rolfsii. F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and F. solani were less disseminated and less devastating pathogens.

Keywords: Tomato, fungal wilts, incidence, distribution, Bénin.