EVALUATION OF BIOAGENTS FOR MANAGEMENT OF DOWNY MILDEW OF PEARL MILLET CAUSED BY SCLEROSPORA GRAMINICOLA (SACC.) SCHROET
POOJA SANGWAN AND KUSHAL RAJ
Department of Plant Pathology
CCS Haryana Agricultural University
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
(e-mail : choudhary.shweta737@gmail.com)
(Received : 05 June 2016; Accepted : 27 June 2016)
SUMMARY
Downy mildew of pearl millet incited by Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc.) Schroet is the most widespread and destructive disease of pearl millet in India and other pearl millet growing area of the world. This disease is a major factor limiting full exploitation of high yield potential hybrids in India. The field trials were conducted in Department of Plant Pathology research area of CCS Haryana Agricultural University Hisar with the objective to evaluate different biological agents for the management of pearl millet downy mildew in an attempt to develop an ecofriendly management strategy. Pearl millet seeds of moderately susceptible hybrid B 2301 were treated with Bacillus pumulis, Chitosan, Chitosan + Bacillus pumulis, Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma harzianum, Pseudomonas fluorescens were sown under sick plot and observations on germination percentage, per cent disease incidence at 30 and 60 days after sowing and yield data on harvest were recorded. Among different agents tested to manage downy mildew, minimum disease incidence (9.3%) was observed in treatment of Chitosan + Bacillus pumulis with maximum germination percentage of 53.5% and grain yield (1091.7 kg/ha).
Key words:Pearl millet, downy mildew, bioagents, Trichoderma, Chitosan, Bacillus pumulis