Apart from wild herbivores, beles in Tigray has not pests of importance. Several diseases, however have been noted, but none of them pose an immediate risk to either fruit or forage production. Nevertheless, they may need monitoring and preventative control. The diseases detected in Eritrea are:
Black soft rot. The main symptoms of this disease are apparent on wounded cladodes. The tissue softens and develops a soggy appearance followed by darkening of the affected area. Usually only a few cladodes are affected. This most important damage is on cuttings selected for new plantations. The most common organism associated to the problem is Erwinia spp. (Plate 11).
Cladode swelling. This is a disease caused by an unknown agent. Its symptoms are an increase in thickness of mature cladodes and failure to produce new normal shoots. The fruits produced are dwarf and swollen (Plate 12).
Golden spot. The mature cladodes are covered with a thin yellow-golden layer that affects photosynthesis and growth (Plate 13).
In all cases, control measures include: sanitary pruning and destruction of affected pruning waste. Avoid collecting cuttings for new plantations from affected plants.
