DISEASE MANAGEMENT :
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Damping off(Pythium, Rhizoctonia, Phytophthora, etc.)
The attack usually starts on the germinating seed, spreading to the hypocotyls, basal stem and developing taproot. In pre emergence damping off, the growing points are killed in the initial stages of seed germination before they come out through the soil. In post-emergence damping off, the seedlings topple over the ground due to collar rotting and rapid shrinking of the cortical tissue of the hypocotyls.
Control measure
1. Treat the seeds with Thiram/Captan/Mancozed@ 3.0 g/kg of seeds.
2. Drenching the nursery beds 7 days before sowing with Thiram/ Captan any copper fungicide@ 3g / litre of water.
3. Soil solarization.
4. Application of bioagents like Trichoderma @ 5 / m2 reduces the pathogen load in seedbed.
5. Remove the affected seedlings from beds as soon as the symptoms are visible.
Fruit rot and die-back/Anthracnose
The disease has been observed to occur in three phases, they are:
1. Seedling blight or damping off,
2. Leaf spot and die back, and
3. Anthracnose or fruit rot.
Capsicum fruit rot reduces fruit dry weight and quantities of capsacin and oleoresin. In anthracnose or fruit rot caused by C. capsici, the ripe fruits turning red are mostly affected.
Die-back and ripe fruit rot
1. As the fungus causes necrosis of tender twigs from the tip backwards, the disease is called `die-back`.
2. Infection usually begins when the crop is in flower. In diseased plant, flowers dry up.
3. This drying up spreads from the flower to the stem and subsequently causes die-back of the branches and stem.
4. The entire branch or the entire top of the plant may wither.
5. The dead twigs are water soaked to brown, becoming greyish white or straw coloured in advanced stage of the disease.
6. Die-back usually appears after the rains have stopped and when there is prolonged deposition of dew on the plants.
Cercospora Leaf Spot (Cercospora capsic)
1. Symptoms
a. Small, circular water soaked brown spots are observed on the leaves.
b. Defoliation of the leaves may often be due to this disease.
2. The spots may be formed on the petiole, branches and peduncle.
3. Management
a. Mancozeb 2g/lit.
b. Copper oxychloride 2.5 g/lit.
Chilli Mosaic (Chilli mosaic virus):
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1. Symptoms
a. The affected plant develops mottling of yellow and green colour on the leaves. The margins may be curled instead of being flat and smooth.
b. The affected leaves develop depression, raised areas and puckering on the leaf blade.
c. The plants get stunted in severe cases of infection. Plants produce few flowers.
d. The fruits are considerably reduced in size, shriveled and deformed.
2. Management
a. Removal and destruction of all perennial weeds in and near the seed beds and fields.
b. Resistant varieties to Chilli mosaic virus are: G2, Kondiverum, Puri Orange and Puri Red
c. The spread of the disease can be reduced by controlling the vector by spraying methyl demeton 25 EC 10 ml, dimethoate 30 EC 110 ml or monocrotophos 36 WSC 10 ml/10lit at 10 days interval.
d. The infected plants should be uprooted and burnt or buried to avoid further infection.
e. Raise 2-3 rows of maize or sorghum as border crop to restrict the spread of aphid vectors.
f. Collect and destroy infected virus plants as soon as they are noticed.
1. Bacterial Leaf SpotXanthomonas vesicatoria (Syn. Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria)
The leaves exhibit small, circular or irregular, dark brown or black greasy spots.
Stem infection leads to formation of cankerous growth and wilting of branches. On the fruits, round, raised water soaked spots with a pale yellow border are produced.
The spots turn brown developing a depression in the centre wherein shiny droplets of bacterial ooze may be observed.
