The fruits affected by soft rot shows water-soaked lesions which leads to the collapse of the affected fruits. The bacterium can reside in soil for many years.

The bacterium can be easily transmitted during pruning operations, splashing of infested soil on to plants with wounds and movement by chewing insects and larvae.

Severely infected plants and fruits emanate a foul odor due to rotting of the tissues by the bacterial organism and could be an issue in post-harvest storage.

If you cut the infected fruit tissue with a sharp razor blade and keep in a drop of water on a glass slide and observe under a microscope you can see bacterial streaming from the infected fruit tissue.