Vol. 11, Special Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
KV Shivakumar, YM Somasekhara, N Nagaraju, RL Ravikumar, KT Rangaswamy and NC Narsegowda

Abstract:
Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), the “king of spices” is a traditional and historic spice crop. Among the major production constraints of black pepper, diseases play a key role. Foot rot, caused by Phytophthora capsici Leonian is one of the significant constraints for black pepper cultivation. Being a soil-borne pathogen, the fungus infects all parts of the plant. An intensive roving survey was conducted covering five major districts of Karnataka viz., Kodagu, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada. The survey of two years revealed that highest mean incidence of foot rot disease was observed in Hassan district (18.44%) followed by Uttara Kannada (17.77%) and the least mean disease incidence (11.40%) was observed in Shivamogga district. Among the taluks surveyed the highest disease incidence (20.16%) was found in the Sakleshpura taluk of Hassan district, while the lowest disease incidence (10.0%) was found in the Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district. The mean incidence of foot rot of black pepper was higher (16.38%) in 2017 growing season as compared to 14.35 percent in 2016.