Integrated Disease Management for Quality and Sustainability of Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).

Hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is a very profitable and widely grown spice in India for domestic use and export. Numerous diseases including damping off, anthracnose, Fusarial wilt, leaf spots, affect this crop resulting in high cost of protection. Solarization with 400-500 gauze polythene sheets during summer and use of biocontrol agents for seed and soil applications are essential practices for management of damping off in the nursery. Integration of seed health, foliar application of carbendazim or prochloroz, or a biocontrol agent, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and resistant cultivars are recommended for anthracnose. Fusarial wilt, a soil borne disease, is problematic in irrigated black cotton soil. The popular cultivars Byadagi Kaddi and Guntur are highly vulnerable to wilt and there is a need to develop resistant cultivars. Seed treatment and soil application of bio-agents, Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens, application of neem cake and vermicompost at the time of planting are essential interventions for management of wilt. Management of foliar diseases such as leaf spot is mostly achieved by fungicides alternated with foliar sprays of P. fluorescens. Aflatoxin caused by Aspergillus flavus is a post harvest problem globally. Application of neem seed kernel extract or P. fluoresens 15 days before harvest and application of neem cake reduces the population of Aspergillus flavus and in turn decreases aflatoxin contamination in hot pepper. In a typical irrigated hot pepper ecosystem, farmers use 25 to 30 spray applications to combat pests and diseases resulting in a high cost of protection. Integrated management packages have been developed which reduced the cost of protection by 60% and resulted in 30 to35% increase in net profit. The integrated management system helped to achieve maximum benefits with less impact on the ecosystem.