STUDIES ON VARIABILITY AND MANAGEMENT OF FUSARIUM WILT OF CAPSICUM
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Date
2023-11-09
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is one of the devastating diseases of bell pepper in Himachal Pradesh. The present investigation entitled “Studies on variability and management of Fusarium wilt of capsicum” was carried out during the cropping season 2022 and 2023 with the objectives to record the status of the disease, cultural and morphological characterization of isolates, isolation of biocontrol agents from the rhizosphere of capsicum, their characterization and to test their efficacy against the pathogen under in vitro and pot culture conditions. Survey studies of Solan district of H.P. revealed that the wilt disease occurred in moderate to severe form with disease incidence varying from 9.00 to 24.50 per cent under open field conditions while, under polyhouse conditions it varied from 6.22 to 38.88 percent. Symptoms of disease appeared as yellowing of leaves followed by epinasty (downward drooping) of older leaves and browning of the vascular tissue leading to completely death of plant by wilting. Based on cultural and morphological characterization, the pathogen found associated with the wilt disease was identified as Fusarium oxysporum. Among the two methods of proving pathogenicity, soil inoculation by mass culture was found more effective having incubation period of 18 days. Biocontrol agents (Trichoderma spp., Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp.) were isolated from rhizosphere soil of healthy capsicum plants by using serial dilution method. Among fungal bioagents, Trichoderma sp. 3 was found the most effective in inhibiting the mycelial growth (73.71%) in dual culture method. Whereas, in case of bacterial biocontrol agents, Bacillus sp. 1 was found effective during in vitro evaluation. Evaluation of biocontrol agents against Fusarium wilt of capsicum under pot culture condition revealed that Trichoderma sp. 3 was most effective and exhibited highest disease control (83.33%), while Bacillus sp. 1 showed 50.00 percent disease control against isolate 4 of Fusarium oxysporum