Vol. 12, Special Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Ganesh HS, Yenjerappa ST and Ranjana Joshi

Abstract:
Chilli (Capsicum annuum L) is an important spice and also vegetable crop being predominently grown across world and it is well known for its hot, pungent flavor due to the presence of bio-active compound called “Capsaicin”. In India, Chilli being cultivated both tropical and sub-tropical zones accounting for 40 percent of the world’s area. Realizing its economic importance there has bee increase in its area of production which lead to monopoly over its cultivation which resulted in outbreak of several fungal, bacterial and viral diseases tumbled the quality and quantity. Among them, fungal diseases viz., leaf spots and fruit rot are major both in field and storage conditios. Management of these foliar diseases through fungicides is much needed effort. In this context, investigations of different fungicide molecules were evaluated against leaf spot and fruit rot diseases of chilli in two growing seasons of Kharif 2020-21 and 2021-22. The study revealed that during Kharif 2020-21, the three successive sprays of Zineb 75% W.P @ 2250 g/ha was found most effective with least leaf spot (24.66 PDI) and fruit rot severity (19.38 PDI) when compared to other fungicides and untreated control with highest significant yield of 22.04 q/ha. Similar outcome in the efficacy was seen during Kharif 2021-22, after sequential sprays of Zineb 75% W.P @ 2250 g/ha there was maximum yield of 17.36 q/ha with significant reduction in both leaf spot and fruit rot with least disease incidence of 17.33 and 20.85 respectively.