Comparison of physical, chemical and biological methods of controlling garlic white rot

Abstract

Treatment of garlic cloves with tebuconazole (at 1 ml of Folicur 25% l−1) achieved a significant reduction in the rate of disease progress and the final incidence of plant death by Sclerotium cepivorum: garlic yields were improved. Although soil solarization provided the best control of garlic white rot, bringing soil populations of S. cepivorum to negligible levels, similar levels of disease control and garlic yields were achieved when tebuconazole was sprayed to stem bases of plants grown from cloves also treated with tebuconazole. This double treatment almost doubled the yield compared with untreated plants and significantly increased bulb quality under high disease pressure conditions. Soil solarization was also highly effective in a second consecutive crop of garlic, with significant improvements in yield and garlic quality. In contrast, lower levels of disease control were obtained when selected isolates of Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis were applied to the soil and cloves respectively.