Epidemiology and management of Anthracnose of chilli

Abstract

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum is among one of the most destructive newlinedisease affecting production of chilli. An estimated annual loss of about 29.5%=INR 305 newlinebillion has been linked to anthracnose disease alone causing the decline in chilli newlineproduction in India. The economic importance of the disease can be inferred from the fact newlinethat even a small lesion on fruit lowers the marketable cost of the product. Anthracnose is newlinemainly a problem on mature fruits, causing severe losses due to both pre and post-harvest newlinefruit decay. The causal organism of anthracnose, Colletotrichum is an asexual genus newlinebelonging to phylum Ascomycete and Coeleomycetes class of Fungi imperfectii causing newlineplant diseases in various crops worldwide. It has been rated among top ten most notorious newlinepathogen of the world causing economically important disease anthracnose in a wide newlinerange of hosts including cereals, legumes, vegetables, perennial crops and tree fruits. newlineThe present study was carried out to study the effect of using BCAs at two newlinedifferent ecological niches of plants (rhizosphere and phyllopshere) in order to provide newlinethem the dual protection cover against the pathogen ingression. Also to study the newlinedifferent mechanisms employed by the BCAs in providing the host plant a better newlineprotection from the pathogen. newlineThe result of the present study indicated the utilization of azoxystrobin fungicides newlinefor effective control of C. capsici at lower doses under in vitro conditions could prove newlineequally effective under field conditions. The combination of BCAs with the reduced dose newlineof fungicide would prove effective in controlling the spread of the disease in the region newlinethereby enhancing the yield and production of the crop and hence contributing to the newlineeconomy of the country. newline