Healthy looking brinjal plants are suddenly wilting in the heat and then collapsing completely within a couple of days, in patches that are spreading. The field stays wet. Leaves stay green when they wilt. What is killing them so fast?
A fast wilt where the leaves stay green and plants collapse in spreading patches in a wet field is most likely bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia, very common in warm wet soils. Confirm with the simple test, cut a wilted stem near the base and put it in clear water, milky white strands streaming out mean bacterial wilt. It cannot be cured once plants show it. Remove and destroy collapsed plants along with the soil around the roots, improve drainage urgently and make raised beds so roots are not waterlogged, and do not let irrigation water from infected patches run to clean areas. Disinfect tools and avoid working in wet infected soil. For the next crop rotate away from brinjal, tomato and chilli for two to three years, use grafted seedlings on resistant rootstock where available, and add Trichoderma or biocontrol agents to the soil. Take a wilted plant to your KVK to confirm before planning the rotation.
Grafted brinjal on a resistant rootstock changed everything for me in my wet plot. Far fewer plants collapsed compared to normal seedlings.
Raised beds and a drainage channel were the cheapest fix. The patches stopped spreading once water was not standing.
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