Management of Major Diseases of Indian Mustard Through Balanced Fertilization, Cultural Practices and Fungicides in Calcareous Soils

Abstract

Indian mustard, Brassica juncea (Linn.) Czernj and Cosson is ravaged by several diseases viz., Alternaria blight, Sclerotinia stem rot, white rust and nutrient deficiency causing substantial yield loss. A field experiment was conducted on the integrated management of major diseases in Indian mustard through different combinations of balanced fertilization, cultural practices and restricted use of fungicides (as seed treatment and foliar spray) to observe their role in augmenting the seed yield and its attributes in calcareous soil at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Pusa, Bihar (India) during 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. Seed treatment with propiconazole plus two foliar sprays of propiconazole at 70 and 80 days after sowing showed lowest per cent disease index of Alternaria leaf blight (2.40), pod blight (8.61), white rust (1.39), Sclerotinia twigs infection (1.90) and Sclerotinia stem rot (8.76) in comparison to other treatments and control during both the years. However, integrated treatments i.e. seed treatment with propiconazole (0.1 %) + balanced fertilization + removal of four lower leaves at 60 days after sowing + one foliar spray of propiconazole (0.1 %) at 70 days after sowing resulted in second lowest severity and incidence of major diseases. This treatment produced significantly highest yield (2339 kg/ha) and its attributes in comparison to control (1050 kg/ha) and remaining treatments. Thus, inclusion of micro and secondary nutrients, cultural practices and restricted fungicidal spray in combination had a beneficial effect on yield enhancement of rapeseed–mustard with substantial reduction in all the major diseases.