Antimycotic Efficacy of Organic Amendments against Pythium aphanidermatum (Edson) Fitzp the Incitant of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Damping-off

Damping-off of tomato incited by Pythium aphanidermatum (Edson) Fitzp. is one of the devastating diseases of tomato with substantial yield losses primarily in the nurseries than in main fields of our nation. Agrochemical application plays a significant role in the management of vegetable crops damping-off but its consecutive application causes detrimental consequences to the kingdom of flora and also leads to the development of fungicidal resistance among the pathogenic populations. With these circumstances, the present study was conducted to exploit the antifungal potential of ten different organic amendments over Pythium aphanidermatum under in vitro conditions. Out of the ten organic amendments tested, mahua cake extract (10%) exhibited the highest mycelial reduction of 79.44% with the least mycelia growth of 1.85 cm over control (9cm). This was succeeded by neem cake extract (10%) (68.89% mycelial inhibition).