Impact of Weather Parameters on Chilli Powdery Mildew and its Management through New Fungicide Combination

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
P. Saha 1
S. Rizal 2
J. Datta 1
1 College of Agriculture, Extended Campus of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Burdwan Sadar, West Bengal -713101, India.
2 Department of Plant Pathology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal -741252, India.
10.22034/JAST.27.4.879
Abstract
Powdery Pildew (PM) of chilli caused by Leveillula taurica is one of the major diseases affecting yield and quality of chilli. The pathogen perpetuates in the infected crop debris and also produce airborne conidia responsible for rapid secondary spread. Prophylactic application of fungicides is admissible to keep the disease under threshold. Therefore, an experiment was designed to determine bio-efficacy and phytotoxicity of different doses of a new combi-fungicide KK-21 (Sulphur 84%+Azoxystrobin 6% SC) along with optimization of its number of sprayings. This fungicide was also compared with the most popularly used fungicides in PM of chilli. Additionally, influence of weather variables on the initiation and progression of the disease were studied and prediction model developed by stepwise regression equation for timely forecasting and managing the disease. Study revealed that, depending upon the prevailing weather, the disease first appears between 44 to 64 days after transplanting, then, it progresses gradually at a rate varied from 0.0012 to 0.0139. Among the fungicides applied, three spraying of KK-21 @ 2,500 mL ha-1 at an interval of 15 days just after initiation of the disease was most effective, with the lowest disease severity index (5.12) and highest yield 144.98 q ha-1, and no phytotoxic effect was recorded even at higher dose. Result also showed that the maximum temperature and relative humidity had significantly positive and negative correlation, respectively, with the disease severity. Also, the prediction equation demonstrated that these two factors could explain 78.2-87.6% of the variation in disease severity.

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Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume 27, Issue 4
July and August 2025
Pages 879-894