Prevalence of leaf spot of turmeric in Manipur and in vitro evaluation of fungicides

Surveys on incidence of leaf spot of turmeric caused by Colletotrichum capsici were carried out during September and October, 2011 in Manipur. The disease was found well distributed in the valley districts of Manipur viz. Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur. The maximum disease incidence of 57.00 and 75.84% in Bishnupur district and minimum of 48.37 and 69.72% in Imphal West district were observed during September and October. The variations in the symptoms could be due to prevalence of different strains of C. capsici and fluctuation in weather conditions. Evaluation of seven fungicides viz. carbendazim (0.05 and 0.1%), mancozeb (0.1 and 0.2%), copper oxychloride (0.1 and 0.2%), Bordeaux mixture (0.5 and 1.0%), thiophanate methyl (0.05 and 0.1%), propiconazole (0.05 and 0.1%) and hexaconazole (0.05 and 0.1%) against linear growth of pathogen was done through poisoned food technique. It was revealed that propiconazole @ 0.1 and 0.05% caused cent per cent inhibition of growth of pathogen while thiophanate methyl (0.1%), carbendazim (0.1%), mancozeb (0.2%) and copper oxychloride (0.2%) showed 88.15, 87.41, 86.67 and 73.32% inhibition over control, respectively.