Efficacy and economics of fungicides for management of mango anthracnose

Mango anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz., has become a potentially destructive disease both under field and post harvest storage conditions. To devise effective management strategy against mango anthracnose, twenty fungicides were evaluated both under in vitro and in vivo conditions. In vitro evaluation studies indicated that propiconazole 25% EC, azoxystrobin 25% EC, trifloxystrobin 25% WG + tebuconazole 50% WG, azoxystrobin 25% EC + difenoconazole 25% EC and pyraclostrobin 12.8% WG + boscalid 25.2% WG completely inhibited the mycelial growth of C. gloeosporioides. Field evaluation studies revealed that three consecutive sprays at 15 days interval, starting from the first appearance of disease, with trifloxystrobin 25% WG + tebuconazole 50% WG (@ 0.04%) was found most effective in lowering the disease severity up to 6.78% in comparison to 62.11% in unsprayed check and also enhanced the fruit yield (106 kg/plant). The most economic fungicide were trifloxystrobin + tebuconazole and azoxystrobin 25% EC + difenoconazole 25% EC with cost–benefit ratio of 1:16.57 and 1:10.04, respectively.