Assessment of fungicides against early blight of tomato induced by Alternaria solani (Ellis & Martin) under field conditions

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is an important vegetable crop cultivated in almost all the areas of the country. Tomato, early blight caused by Alternaria solani has been known to cause severe yield losses. Hence, attempts were made to develop an effective strategy to manage the disease. Present investigations were carried out at Jagannath University Chaksu during the year 2018-19 and 2019-20. Early blight infected leaves of tomato were collected from near by areas of Jaipur, Dausa, and Tonk districts of Rajasthan revealed the association of the Alternaria pathogen. In the present studies the efficacy of some newer molecules like Difenconazole, Propiconazole, Hexaconazole Azoxystrobinn, Picoxystrobin, Pyraciostrobin along with commonly used chemical Mancozeb against early blight of tomato were tested using Pusa Ruby as a cultivar. A control plot with no application of fungicide was used as a check. Average yield was calculated after final picking. All the fungicidal application was found significantly superior over control in minimizing the disease. Hexaconazole (@500ml/ha.) was found significantly superior over all other treatments showing disease severity (8.50%) which is closely followed by Propiconazole (@ 500ml/ha.) with PDI (10.47%). Per cent reduction of early blight was noted to the tune of 68.91 and 61.70% respectively. (2018-19). Similar trends were also obtained in (2019-20) with PDI 3.81 and 5.60% in both the treatments. Per cent reduction in disease was recorded 83.91 and 82.12% when the crop was sprayed by Hexaconazole and Propiconazole respeively. All the treatments were significantly enhance the yield over control. The maximum yield (34.01 and 33.56 T/ha) was recorded when the crop was sprayed by Hexaconazole in both the year of testing which was followed Propiconazole having yield of (32.66 and 30.19 T/ha.) in both the years of testing.