Effectiveness of systemic fungicides against tomato early blight (Alternaria alternata)

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one of the most remunerative and widely grown vegetables in the world. This crop is affected by major fungal pathogens (viz., early blight, late blight, wilt, collar rot, damping off and powdery mildew), among them early blight (Alternaria alternata) is considered as most important one. Among the fungicide tested, the majority were found effective in inhibiting the radial growth of test fungus and highest inhibition was observed in propiconazole 25 EC at 250 and 500 ppm concentration; difenoconazole 25 EC and tebuconazole 25.9 EC at 500 ppm concentration which were equally effective and completely inhibited the mycelial growth and proved significantly superior over rest of the treatments.