Chemical Management of Apple scab under Temperate Agro-climatic Conditions of Kashmir

The effect of application of contact, systemic and combination of contact and systemic fungicides at different phenological stages (green tip, pink bud, petal fall, fruitlet, fruit development stage (FDS)-I, FDS-II, FDS-III and pre-harvest) for the control of apple scab is reported. All the test fungicides were effective to control the apple scab and provided an average leaf scab disease incidence reduction of 77.9 to 93.8 per cent over standard check. Combination of contact and systemic fungicides was significantly superior over all the tested fungicides in controlling the scab disease incidence and intensity. Eight sprays of the selected fungicides were done at appropriate stages which reduced the apple scab significantly as compared to 14–16 sprays used routinely to manage the disease by farmers under the test temperate agro-climatic conditions. The disease pressure of apple scab was more during 2015 compared to 2016 and 2017.