African Journal of Agriculture and Food Security

African Journal of Agriculture and Food Security ISSN 2375-1177 Vol. 7 (2), pp. 302-307, February, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Sensitivity of Alternaria alternata; cause of foliar and seedling blight disease of Cassia fistula in Pakistan to fungicides and biological control agents

Romana Anjum¹, Safdar Ali², Khizar Razzaq², Wasima Kanwal³, Maryam Yousaf^1,4,  Muneeb Afzal¹

¹Department of Plant Pathology & Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.

²Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.

³Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.

⁴ University College of Sargodha, Pakistan.

Accepted 24 October, 2018                                                                                            

Abstract

Foliar blight disease is caused by Alternaria alternata, cosmopolitan saprophyte in nature, considered a virulent pathogen in different crops. Pathogens cause foliar and seedling blight of Cassia fistula, which is an important ornamental and timber tree plant grown on sidewalk, roads. pathogen infection resulted in timber deterioration and reduce esthetic value of tree. So, it’s very important to develop a cost-effective strategy to control this disease either by chemical and biological agents to save the C. fistula trees. For this purpose, different fungicides viz; Mancozeb 75% WP, Carbendazim 50% WP, Thiophanate methyl 70% WP, Copper oxy 50% WP, Difenoconazole 25% EC and Propiconazole 25% EC and biological agents viz; Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Trichoderma harzianum were used in vitro against A. alternata. Results of this experiment demonstrated that Propiconazole 25% EC and Difenoconazole 25% EC were found statistically significant in reducing mycelial growth of A. alternata (71.5%, 72.7%, 73.9%, 72.1%, 72.1%, and 73.0%) after 3, 6 and 9 days of incubation at various concentrations. On the other hand, Trichoderma harzianum was found to be most successful in inhibition (76%) of this pathogen. Therefore, we concluded that Propiconazole 25% EC, Difenoconazole 25% EC and T. harzianum are effective in managing this pathogen responsible for foliar and seedling blight in Cassia fistula.

Keywords: Seedling blight, Foliar blight, Trichoderma harzianum,Propiconazole, Alternaria alternata, Cassia fistula.