Evaluation of novel fungicide for the management of soybean anthracnose disease and yield loss estimation

Soybean anthracnose is currently a severe threat to India's soybean cultivation. There is limited information about estimated yield loss due to anthracnose and foliar fungicide application for its management.

A novel fungicide, Picoxystrobin 7.05 per cent + Propiconazole 11.71 per cent (w/w) was evaluated for two consecutive years (2018 and 2019) in three different concentrations as a foliar application in combination with commercially available fungicides as standard checks to identify an alternative fungicide for management of soybean anthracnose disease. The yield loss was estimated from the data observed for two years in a row.

After three foliar applications of the novel fungicide, Picoxystrobin 7.05 per cent + Propiconazole 11.71 per cent w/w @ 0.20 per cent, the maximum disease control (PDC), the lowest disease index (PDI) and the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) were obtained. The maximum gross return was obtained following three foliar applications of Picoxystrobin 22.52 per cent (w/w) SC @ 0.08 per cent, but the maximum B:C ratio was estimated with foliar application of Hexaconazole 5.00 per cent EC @ 0.100 per cent. Anthracnose severity was found to be negatively correlated with soybean grain yield (r = -0.91). In every 1% increase in anthracnose disease severity reduced soybean yield by 115 kg per hectare.