Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is one of the world’s most important cash crop cultivated in more than 80 countries around the globe. There are several impediments which contribute to low cane yield and one of the factors is plant diseases. The crop is mostly constrained by diseases of fungal, bacterial and viral origin. Bacterial Red stripe/top rot incited by Acidovorax avenae subsp. Avenae once considered to be the minor disease is gaining importance these days. The disease mostly occurs in two forms ., leaf stripes and top rot, which may occur singly or together under field condition during relatively high atmospheric humidity. The bacterial nature of the disease was first established by Lee and Jennings in 1924. The pathogen has wide host range and is spread by wind and rain in warm humid weather causing a true vascular disease in sugarcane.
