Efficacy of Eco-Friendly Management Practices of Powdery Mildew Alternaria Blight and Bacterial Leaf Blight of Cluster Bean Under Organic Farming Kanwar Harshraj*,***, Trivedi Amit*, Sharma Shanti Kumar** *Department of Plant Pathology, MPUAT, Udaipur-313 001 **Directorate of Research, MPUAT, Udaipur-313 001 ***email: harshrajkanwarudawat@gmail.com
Online published on 15 December, 2016. Abstract Organic farming is gaining global importance with increasing awareness of the consumers towards quality products free from chemical residues, pesticide and the environmental protection. Cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonaloba (L.) Taub], an important legume crop and India suffers from several diseases of which foliar diseases comprising of Powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica), Alternaria blight (Alternaria cyamopsidis) and Bacterial leaf blight (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. cyamopsidis) are of economic importance. Pot and Field experiments were conducted during Kharif (rainfed crop) 2014–15 to develop a suitable organic module to manage these diseases and improve productivity of cluster bean. In the present management studies under artificial inoculations in pot culture and natural infection in field revealed that the same trend i.e., module consisting of soil application of Neem Cake 2 q/ha + T. viride 2 kg/ha incubated on 100 kg FYM + Foliar spray of Neem Oil 2% @ 35, 50, 65 DAS significantly reduced the maximum incidence of foliar diseases, and increased the yield of cluster bean. Three sprays of neem oil (2%) proved highly effective for the management of Powdery mildew, Alternaria blight and Bacterial leaf blight. Under artificial epiphytotic and natural field conditions data revealed that lowest powdery mildew PDI 9.4 & 7.9, Alternaria blight PDI 13.4 & 9.3 bacterial blight PDI 16.2 &13.2 and maximum seed yield (7.60 q ha−1) was recorded with the application of afore said module, as compared to un-treated control with Pm PDI 53.2 & 51.8, Alternaria blight 59.8 & 50.2 bacterial blight 67.8 & 58.7 respectively and seed yield 4.45 q ha−1. Top Keywords Cluster bean, Organic practices, Powdery mildew, Alternaria blight, Bacterial leaf blight, Neem oil, Botanicals. Top |