Status of Alternaria leaf blight in cotton and its fungicidal management

Abstract

Surveys were carried out in the three districts of North Gujarat, viz., Aravalli, Sabarkantha, and Banaskantha to investigate the severity of Alternaria leaf blight in cotton, The disease was found to be quite severe and with a mean PDI of 23.77, the Banaskantha district had the highest disease intensity of Alternaria leaf spot disease; in contrast, the average disease intensity in the Aravalli and Sabarkantha districts was 17.94 and 20.44 per cent, respectively. Further, to manage the disease, research was conducted to evaluate the in vitro and in planta bioefficacy of fungicides against Alternaria macrospora of cotton at the Department of Plant Pathology and Alternaria leaf blight in cotton at Agronomy Instructional farm, S D Agricultural University Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, respectively. Under in vitro condition, among five systemic fungicides, Carbendazim showed the highest per cent growth inhibition, while Propiconazole showed the lowest. Among different non-systemic fungicides, Mancozeb inhibited the radial growth of A. macrospora the most, while Chlorothalonil inhibited the least. Further, among five combined fungicides, Tebuconazole 50% + Trifloxistrobin 25 WG inhibited the most growth and Captan 70% + Hexaconazole 50 WP inhibited the least. Thereafter, the bio-efficacy of the two most effective fungicides from each group (two systemic, two non-systemic, and two combined fungicides) was tested under field conditions, and the mean disease intensity ranged from 12.28 to 36.43 per cent, with the lowest being Tebuconazole 50% + Trifloxystrobin 25 WG and the highest being untreated control. The highest percentage of illness control (66.29%).. KEYWORDS :Alternaria macrospora, cotton, fungicides