Role of GIS in disease epidemiology under polyhouses of Himachal Pradesh

GIS is an effective and efficient research management tool which integrates common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with unique visualization, geographic representation, and analysis given by maps. It can integrate and analyze data from various sources and present the output geographically. GIS geographically targets technologies developed in agriculture and horticulture then integrates the biophysical, climatic, and socio-economic databases for efficient and effective resource allocation. Poly house cultivation of vegetable crops is becoming very popular in Himachal Pradesh so the present study was carried out on Bell pepper to assess the disease status using GIS technology The study showed that bell pepper is affected by fungal and bacterial diseases but bacterial wilt and powdery mildew are the dominant ones which are found in the polyhouses Bbacterial wilt was dominant in Kangra and Mandi district wsheras disease severity of powdery mildew was more in district Kullu and Bilaspur. It is significant to know that the bacterial wilt affected areas lies in Kangra, Bhawarana, Lambagaon (District kangra) and Sundernagar (Distrcit Mandi), whereas the areas severely affected by the powdery mildew were Sullah, Lambagaon (District Kangra), Naggar (District Kullu) and Ghumarwin (District Bilaspur). Using the GIS Spatial techniches, the Severity signatures of powdery mildew have been found in the areas which receive rainfall less than 1500mm where as bacterial wilt is dominant in the areas having rainfall pattern of upto 1800mm.