Vol. 11, Issue 7 (2022)

Author(s):
A Snehalatharani, Prasanna Kumari V, P Anil Kumar, K Gopal, K Jayalalitha, V Srinivasa Rao and VSN Deepika

Abstract:
Chrysanthemum, a traditional flower crop of Andhra Pradesh, is being cultivated mainly for loose flower and as potted plants. Year-round cultivation under protected conditions enabled the crop to get establish as a commercial crop to meet the market requirements. Flower blight of chrysanthemum is one of the important and emerging diseases affecting its flower production across the world. Many organisms were reported to cause the disease but Phoma ligulicola was the most predominant pathogen causing the disease. In the present study, survey were conducted to assess the prevalence of flower blight disease in East Godavari, Chittoor and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh during kharif 2019-20 and 2020-21 where the crop was being cultivated both in open field and protected conditions. Four villages were surveyed from two mandals within each district and per cent disease incidence on flowers and per cent disease severity on leaves was calculated. Disease was observed in all the surveyed districts and varied in its intensity. Its incidence (48.40%) and severity (28.28%) was found to be the highest in East Godavari district when compared to Chittoor and Visakhapatnam districts. Flower blight disease incidence and severity varied differentially within the districts and the level of variation differed between districts. Of the six mandals surveyed Kadiyam mandal of East Godavari district was found with the highest mean disease incidence (61.12%) and severity (33.69%). It was noticed that disease incidence (88.42%) and severity (39.57%) was higher in protected conditions in general and in East Godavari district in particular when compared to open field conditions i.e., 44.12% disease incidence and 29.36% disease severity. Proper assessment of disease coupled with identification of the causal organisms helps in adopting better management practices.