Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Parimi Supraja and Shashi Tiwari

Abstract:
Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) belongs to the family solanaceae, is an important vegetable crop grown throughout the world. In India, it is grown in subtropics and tropics. Area, Production and Productivity in India 730.4 ha, 12800.8 MT and 17.5 MT/ha respectively. The productivity of brinjal is quite low (17.4 MT/ha) in India compared to those countries, where the productivity ranges from 17.8 - 35.9MT/ha. Low productivity of brinjal is due to insect pests and disease. There are many diseases that affect brinjal i. e. Damping off caused by Pythium aphanidermatum, leaf spot (Alternaria alternata and Cercospora melongena), Phomopsis blight (Phomopsis vexans). Among them Alternaria leaf spot of brinjal is severe and appears regularly, causing heavy losses in yield. Alternaria alternata attacks leaves and then spreads to fruits which subsequently rot and become unfit for consumption. Plant essential oils have volatile compounds, anti-fungal activity and are eco-friendly. An experiment was conducted in the Zaid season to check the efficacy of essential oils against Alternaria alternata on field conditions. Essential oils viz., garlic oil, castor oil, neem oil, eucalyptus oil, clove oil @ 5% as seed treatment. An untreated replication served as control. At the desired number of days readings were taken for growth parameters and disease intensity. On the basis of a single trial, it was observed that among all treatments seed treatment with neem oil @ 5% showed the most significant with minimum disease intensity results followed by eucalyptus oil @ 5%. However, the lowest inhibition was seen in the control plot. Subsequently the highest incremental cost benefit ratio was obtained with treatment of neem oil @ 5% and lowest cost benefit ratio was obtained with untreated (control) plot followed by castor oil @ 5%.