Optimizing Tomato Health: Holistic Approach to Early Blight Disease Management

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of fungicide (mancozeb) and botanicals against early blight of tomato caused by Alternaria solani at the experimental field and glasshouse of Plant Pathology department, College of Agriculture, Pune, Maharashtra, during Kharif season (2019-2020). Six treatments including control with four replications were taken up using Randomized Block Design RBD. Growth inhibition of fungus Alternaria solani causing early leaf blight of tomato was studied in vivo for determining the efficacy of one fungicide and eight botanicals. Exploring possibility of managing A. solani by use of botanicals revealed that the clove extract of garlic was the best followed by neem leaf and ginger rhizome extract showing highest growth inhibition of the fungus. Among the plant leaf extracts, garlic clove extract @10% was found effective to inhibit the growth of pathogen i.e. 64.60% Per cent disease control PDC (glasshouse trial) and 51.85% PDC (open Field trial). The contact fungicide Mancozeb@0.25% showed disease control of 75.52% (Glasshouse trial) and PDC of 70.34% (Field trial) in in vivo condition. Presently many farmers are using chemicals for control of early blight of tomato however, they cause health hazards. Therefore, this investigation provides valuable insights for farmers in selecting suitable plant extracts to control early blight of tomatoes.