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India occupies first position in the world in pomegranate area (0.125 million ha) and production (1.140 million tonnes). The leading pomegranate growing states of India are Maharashtra (70.2%), Karnataka (10%), Gujarat (7.4%), Andhra Pradesh (6.7%), Telangana (1.9%), Madhya Pradesh (1.9%), Tamil Nadu (1.0%) and Rajasthan (0.4%). In Andhra Pradesh, the major pomegranate growing areas are Ananthapuram district, Kurnool, Kadapa and parts of Chittoor. A survey was conducted on disease incidence of bacterial blight of pomegranate caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv.punicae during the year 2015.During the survey, it was observed that mean disease incidence of bacterial blight on fruit was more than disease incidence on leaves in all the areas surveyed. Within Andhra Pradesh state, the mean disease incidence on leaves and fruits was highest in Kurnool district (24.04 % on leaves and 31.72% on fruit) followed by Kadapa district (22.15 % on leaves and 28.15% on fruit) and was found to be least in Ananthapuram district (12.89 % on leaves and 21.58% on fruit) The mean disease incidence in these three districts ranged from 6.4% to 36.6% on leaves and 8.8 % to 50.2 % on fruits.

Key words: Pomegranate, bacterial blight, disease incidence, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. Punicae.