Exploration of fungicides, bio-agents and botanicals against leaf blight of okra incited by Alternaria chlamydospora.

Leaf blight incited by Alternaria chlamydospora Mouchacca was found to be major disease of okra under agro climatic conditions of Konkan region of Maharashtra. During the present study, eight fungicides, seven plant extracts and four fungal bioagents were evaluated in vitro to test their efficacy in inhibiting the growth of A chlamydospora Mouchacca. Among the fungicides, Hexaconazole (0.1%), Mancozeb (0.2%), Carbendazim (0.1%) and Copper hydroxide (0.05%) were the most effective causing 100 per cent inhibition of the test fungus followed by Propiconazole (0.1%), Thiophanate methyl (0.1%), Difencpnazole (0.1%) and Copper oxychloride (0.3%) with 76.29, 67.77, 66.66 and 62.22 per cent inhibition over control, respectively. Among the plant extracts tested, bulb extract of Allium sativum and leaf extract of Azadirachta indica recorded maximum inhibition (74.44 % and 70.74%, respectively over control). All the fungal bioagents tested were found effective in inhibiting the growth of test pathogen.