Evaluation of Different Fungicides and Bioagents for the Management of Chickpea Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri)

The incidence of the chickpea wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri ranged between 8.11 - 21.67 and 10.98 - 23.99 per cent with an overall mean disease incidence of 15.64 and 16.86 per cent respectively during Rabi seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18 in surveys conducted fortnightly in the different chickpea growing areas of Jammu sub-tropics. The maximum growth inhibition of pathogen i.e., 78.44 per cent was observed by local isolate T. harzianum (Th-III) and P. fluorescens (Pf-III) was least effective in controlling the growth of pathogen i.e., 53.00 per cent in In vitro studies. Among chemicals, carbendazim at 100 ppm was significantly effective in inhibiting the growth of pathogen (98.67%), while copper oxychloride and mancozeb showed inhibition of 83.11 and 82.22 per cent, respectively. Both the antagonists were highly sensitive to propiconazole (Tilt), carbendazim (Bavistin), difenoconazole (Score), iprodione + carbendazim (Quintal) and metalaxyl (Ridomil), giving no growth of T. viride (TV-III) and T. harzianum (TH-III). TMTD (Thiram) recorded least inhibition of both the bioagents. Under field conditions, bioagents recorded maximum seed germination of 90.21 and 90.07 per cent, whereas least germination was recorded in mancozeb (84.17 and 83.10%). Carbendazim recorded lowest disease incidence (14.92 and 14.97%) over untreated control (44.42 and 45.77%). However, maximum grain yield was recorded in azoxystrobin + T. harzianum-III (14.30 and 14.57 q/ha) and azoxystrobin + T. viride-III (14.15 and 14.38 q/ha) and the least grain yield was recorded in mancozeb (10.58 and 10.64 q/ha) during Rabi 2016-17 and 2017-18. Maximum increase in grain yield was recorded in azoxystrobin + T. harzianum-III (62.31 and 62.43%) followed by azoxystrobin + T. viride-III (62.61 and 60.87%) during Rabi 2016-17 and 2017-18.