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Purple blotch

Purple blotch

Crop: Onion
Disease: Fungal
Pathogen:  Alternaria porri

Older leaves tend to be more susceptiblethan younger leaves. Symptoms begin as water-soaked lesions that usually have a white center. Edges of lesions become brown to purple and the leaf turns yellow above and below the lesions. With time, dark brown to black concentric rings form throughout the lesions. These are areas of sporulation of the fungus. As the disease progresses, lesions may girdle the leaf causing it to collapse and die. Similar symptoms occur on seed stalks and infected stalks can collapse resulting in shriveled seed development. When bulb infection occurs, it is normally through the neck. If the fungus invades the bulb, the infected area is initially bright yellow, but eventually turns a characteristic red wine color.

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