Status of Sclerotinia rot of capsicum under protected conditions in Punjab and its management

Intensive survey of capsicum revealed that Sclerotinia rot incidence of capsicum varied from traces to 87.4% in different areas of Punjab. Disease severity was highest on cv. Natasha and Swarna. In vitro evaluation of fungicides revealed that carbendazim 50WP was the most effective fungicide for complete inhibition of the mycelial growth followed by thiophanate methyl 70WP and propiconazole 25EC. Iprodione 25% + carbendazim 25% was the least effective among all the test fungicides. ED50 value for carbendazim, thiophanate methyl, difenconazole and propiconazole was less than 10μg/ml. Under green house conditions, all fungicides proved effective in controlling the disease as compared to control. Carbendazim @ 0.1 per cent proved most effective in checking the disease and increasing the per cent marketable fruit yield both on artificially inoculated plants as well as under natural epiphytotic conditions.