Management of gray mold disease of castor using fungicides

Abstract

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) crop experienced a serious decline in area under cultivation in Telangana state due to yield losses caused by gray mold pathogen Botryotinia ricini. The use of chemical fungicides is an important tool to control gray mold disease in castor. Investigations have been carried out at ICAR -IIOR, Hyderabad, India during kharif 2018 and 2019 cropping seasons to identify an effective fungicide and manage castor gray mold disease under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Fungicides viz., propiconazole, carbendazim and pyraclostrobin+fuxapyroxad have shown high fungitoxicity against B. ricini. In polyhouse and field experiment, propiconazole at 0.1 per cent was most efective in reducing the dis ease by 89.7 and 91.3 per cent, respectively followed by pyraclostrobin+fuxapyroxad at 0.1 percent concentration with 81.8 and 84.0 percent disease control. Propiconazole at 0.1 percent was found most effective against castor gray mold and significantly increased the seed yield. Hence, the fungicide Propiconazole can be recommended for the management of castor gray mold disease