1Central Potato Research Station, Post Bag No. 1, Model Town P.O., Jalandhar-144 003, Punjab.
Russet scab is an emerging problem in seed potato production. Measures such as seed treatments with boric acid or organomercurials are ineffective against russet scab. Seed from a single source planted in different fields resulted in different level of disease incidence and severity that indicated that soil probably plays an important role in the development of russet scab. Soil solarization with transparent polyethylene mulching was thus tried for control of russet scab in field trials. The solarization treatment was carried out for four weeks between mid May to mid June. The trials were conducted for four years between 1996–2001. Potato crop grown in solarized plots revealed 60.3 to 87.1 per cent reduction in incidence of russet scab as compared to the untreated control plots which suggested that soil solarization can successfully be used as a method to manage russet scab.
