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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Among the various fungal diseases affecting coconut palm, basal stem rot (BSR) or wilt or root rot caused by Ganoderma spp. viz., G. lucidum, G. applanatum G. boninense, etc., is the most destructive especially in the lighter soils of Andhra Pradesh. Keeping in view the minimal use of fungicides, the present investigation was taken up to develop an ecofriendly biocontrol management package against the basal stem rot disease by exploring the efficacy of native biocontrol agents under field conditions. The experiment was initiated during September 2014 at P. Gannavaram village of East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh to standardize the dosage, frequency and method of application of effective biocontrol agents, Trichoderma reesei, Pseudomonas fluorescens and neem cake (5 kg/palm/year) and compared with root feeding of Hexaconazole @3ml/100ml of water/palm/quarter and micronutrient application @1kg/palm/year. Among all the treatments tested, soil application of talc based formulation of 125g of Trichoderma reesei and 125 g of Pseudomonas fluorescens + 5 kg of Neem cake/ palm/year was found effective in reducing the disease index from 28.44 to 4.23 within a period of three (2014-2017) years and also found the increasing trend of the nut yield under field conditions.