Management of stem-end rot disease of sweet orange caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Shete MH1, Garande VK2,*, Kadu RP1, Gondhali BV2 1All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Fruits, Department of Horticulture, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri413722Maharashtra, India 2Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Ganeshkhind, Pune411067Maharashtra, India *Email for correspondence: vishnugarande@gmail.com
Online Published on 25 January, 2024. Abstract Among the most important fruit crops in Maharashtra, sweet orange [Citrus sinensis (L) Osbeck] holds a distinctive position. It is third largest crop industry in India after mango and banana. Sweet orange is known to be affected by several fungal diseases. Recently, the pre-harvest fruit drop caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, has become severe which affects the marketable fruit yields of sweet orange in Maharashtra state. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of novel fungicides and bio-agent molecules against stem-end rot of sweet orange. Among three sprays applied at monthly interval, after every spray, all the treatments showed significant reduction in per cent fruit drop over untreated control. The treatment thiophanate methyl @ 0.7 g per litre, resulted in lowest fruit drop (4.33%) as compared to 9.72 per cent in control after third spray. This treatment was at par with treatment carbendazim + mancozeb 75 WP @ 2.5 g per litre during first and second spray. Treatment thiophanate methyl @ 0.7 g per litre also recorded highest fruit yield of 45.44 kg per plant at par with carbendazim + mancozeb 75 WP @ 2.5 g per litre (43.43 kg/plant) and difenoconazole 25 WP @ 0.5 ml per litre (40.20 kg/plant). Maximum net return of Rs 1,77,880 was recorded in treatment thiophanate methyl @ 0.7 g per litre with highest B-C ratio of 1:2.30 among all the treatments. Top Keywords Sweet orange, Stem-end rot, Fungicides, Fruit drop, Yield, Economics. Top |