ABSTRACT
Background: Wilt of sugarcane was recorded almost 100 years ago and is one of the major fungal diseases affecting cane production and productivity. Many commercial varieties were withdrawn from cultivation due to their susceptibility to the disease in many countries. Even though the disease was recorded long back. Methods: For the assessment of disease status and varieties susceptibility of wilt disease, an extensive survey was conducted on sugarcane fields of 2020-2021 of Kenana Sugarcane Company. Isolation of the Pathogen was done by two types of culture in Petri dishes containing PDA the other was incubated in a Plotter test. Both segments were incubated at 28� The pathogenicity test was conducted according to Koch's postulate by Dipping inoculation method and the Plug inoculation method. Results: The result of the survey revealed that the symptoms of the disease appeared clearly in the fields and the result of laboratory isolation indicated that the pure culture of causing pathogen, Fusarium sacchari based on detailed culture morphology. Among the insect pests, root borer was found to associate with wilt disease from sugarcane-infected stalks. The result of the pathogenicity test in pot culture under greenhouse conditions using the variety Co 997 with the pathogenic culture of F. saccharri induced the same symptoms. And re-isolation of the pathogen is similar to the isolation from fields. Conclusion: We were concluded that the wilt of sugarcane affects cane productivity in Sudan and this is considered as the first record of wilt disease in sugarcane in Sudan. As sugarcane is an important crop, future disease control methods will soon be started to control this important disease.