Efficacy of Biorational Approaches in Managing Collar rot Disease of Groundnut Caused by Aspergillus niger

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops cultivated in India. However, its productivity is often reduced by several Seed and soil-borne pathogens that adversely affect germination, plant establishment and final yield. Collar rot caused by Aspergillus niger is a serious disease of groundnut, particularly during the early growth stages. To identify effective and eco-friendly management options, on-farm trials were conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Maulasar during Kharif seasons of 2021 and 2022 under farmers’ field conditions. All treatments resulted in a significantly higher seedling emergence rate (80.80%-96.67%) compared to the control group (70.12%). The maximum seedling emergence (96.67%) was observed with the combination of T. viride soil application and propiconazole seed treatment. Furthermore, among all evaluated fungicides and bioagents, this specific combination recorded the lowest disease incidence (11.81%) and the highest pod yield (24.99 q/ha). This was followed by the standalone propiconazole seed treatment, which exhibited a disease incidence of 15.25% and a pod yield of 21.95 q/ha.

Different combinations of fungicides and biological control agents were evaluated. Treatments included soil application of Trichoderma viride 2.5 kg/ha, seed treatment with carbendazim 50 WP 2 g/kg seed, propiconazole 25 EC 2 ml/kg seed and T. viride 8 g/kg seed, as well as drenching with propiconazole 25 EC 500 ml/ha at 20 days after sowing. Observations were recorded on seedling emergence, disease incidence, pod yield, economic returns and benefit-cost ratio.

All disease-management treatments performed better than the untreated control. The combination of soil application of T. viride (2.5 kg ha^-1) and seed treatment with propiconazole (2 ml kg^-1 seed) produced the best results, recording the highest seedling emergence (96.67%), lowest collar rot incidence (11.81%) and maximum pod yield (24.99 q ha^-1). Seed treatment with propiconazole alone was the next most effective treatment, resulting in lower disease incidence and improved yield compared with other treatments. The study demonstrated that integrating biological and chemical approaches can effectively suppress collar rot and enhance groundnut productivity.