Evaluation of Different Fungicides in Management of Early Blight Disease of Tomato Caused by Alternaria Solani

Ten fungicides, including five systemicat, 50, 100 and 200 μg mL⁻¹ concentrations and five non-systemic fungicides at 500, 1000 and 2000 μg mL⁻¹ concentrations were evaluated for their efficacy against Alternaria solani under in vitro conditions. Among non-systemic fungicides, both mancozeb 75 WP and propineb 50 WP proved highly toxic in inhibiting the mycelial growth. Among systemic fungicides, propiconazole 25 EC and tebuconazole 25 EC proved highly toxic. Two each of most effective, systemic and non-systemic fungicides under in vitro studies were evaluated under field conditions for managing the early blight disease. Under field conditions, the application was integrated with different planting dates in two cropping seasons of 2016 and 2017. The study revealed significant disease reduction in all treatments over control. The treatment combination 1^st spray of mancozeb 75 WP @ 0.3% followed by 2^nd spray of propiconazole 25 EC @ 0.05% was found to be most efficient in reducing the disease incidence and intensity from 46.0 and 21.8% in unsprayed check to 7.6 and 4.4% at all planting dates. Amongst different planting dates, disease progression was less when planted on 1st May followed by 20^th May and 10^th June.