Peri-urban lettuce production in the Kumasi metropolis: diseases and farmers’ management strategies

Abstract

Lettuce (<i>Lactuca sativa L.</i>), an annual leafy herb belonging to the family Compositae, is one of the most popular salad crops, and occupies the largest production area among salad crops in the world. Often times, its production is hindered by diseases particularly, leaf blight diseases, referred to by farmers as “dot disease”. The study was carried out in four major lettuce growing communities (KNUST, Boadi, Gyinyase and University of Education, Winneba-Kumasi campus) and comprised a survey where questionnaires were administered to catalogue diseases associated with peri-urban vegetables production, management strategies employed by the farmers and laboratory experiment for isolation and identification of pathogens associated with the diseases. Leaf blight, leaf spot and powdery mildew were the major diseases mentioned by the farmers. Samples of leaf blight disease of lettuce were collected from each community for isolation of causative organisms. Pathogenicity test was done by inoculating young potted lettuce plants and detached leaves with actively growing pure cultures of the isolates. After six days, it was observed that all the isolates except <i>A. niger</i> and <i>A. flavus</i> caused symptoms of the disease on the leaves. However, Lesions produced by <i>Curvularia lunata</i> resembled field symptoms of leaf blight. The survey also revealed challenges like unidentified bacterium causing leaf lesions, downy mildew, and damping-off diseases. Recommendations include developing seed treatment strategies, addressing reasons for youth disinterest, and conducting further studies on isolated bacteria. Enhancing peri-urban vegetable production is crucial for economic stability, food security, and environmental sustainability.