Assessment of synthetic fungicides against wilt of chilli caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. capsica

Chilli is one of the most important spices used in the word. It is attacked by fusarium wilt and causes huge losses. To manage this diseases, synthetic fungicides were evaluated under in vivo and in vitro conditions. Under in vitro conditions, ten fungicides (Electus, Nativo, Zandar, Bloom, Evito, Novice, Nanok, Kasumin and Meishile) were evaluated at three concentrations (300, 500,700 ppm) under Complete Randomized Design (CRD) by using poisoned food technique. Among all fungicides, minimum fungal growth was expressed by electus (6.656mm) followed by Meishile, Nanok, Bavestin, Kasumin, Nativo, Bloom, Novice, Zandar and Novito (9.485,16.204, 18.667, 18.874, 21.367,22.596, 22.796,31.659, 33.470 mm) as compared to control. Similar results were obtained in the interaction between treatments and their concentrations and treatments and days while under greenhouse Meishile alone exhibited minimum incidence of fusarium wilt (16.33%) as compared to Electus, Electus + Meishile and control (22.844, 20.044 and 47.00 %) Similar trend was also noted in T xC and TxD but in field conditions under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), combination of Electus + Meishile expressed minimum incidence of fusarium wilt (21.9%) as compared to Meishile, Electus and control (23.467, 29,489 and 57.5 %) Corresponding results were noted in case of interaction between treatment and concentration and treatment and days. Results of the current study are helpful for integrated management of fusarium wilt of chilli. The antifungal activity of ten fungicides to counter Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. capsici (FOC) were assessed in-vitro and in-vivo conditions. In-vitro evaluation of fungicides by poisoned food technique showed that Electus was the most effective in hindering mycelial growth (6.65 mm), followed by Meishile (9.48 mm) at 500 ppm concentration. In green house experiments Meishile alone found to be most effective in reducing disease incidence (16.33 %) as compared to Electus (22.84 %) and a combination of Electus +Meishile (20.04 %). In-vivo a combination of Electus + Meishile proved the most effective for management of disease in comparison to individual treatments at 500 ppm concentration. In addition, identification of effective fungicides would enable consolidation of different chemical constituents that are required to formulate integrated disease management products. Our findings will be helpful for the future studies on the integrated management of Fusarium wilt pathogen.