G. Sangeetha#, P. Srinivas, H.S. Singh, B. Debasish and L.K. Bharathi

Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-IIHR), Bhubaneswar – 751019, India

Received on 12 May 2016 and accepted on 30 June 2016

 

ABSTRACT

Fruit and vine rot of pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica) caused by Phytophthora melonis Katsura is a potential disease that occurs extensively in major pointed gourd growing regions of the country. In order to record the effect of planting systems on the incidence and severity of this disease, a study was conducted under trellis and soil bed system of planting during 2015. The study revealed that crop grown in soil bed system had exhibited the vine and fruit rot to the tune of 34.8 and 39.0 percent, respectively during peak rainy season. In trellis system during the study period, there was no fruit and vine rot incidence, however, leaf blight severity to the tune of 2.8 percent was observed as against 28.8 percent in soil bed system. Only the leaf blight was confined to lower most leaves in trellis system. Disease severity was more in soil bed system in rainy season as against other season. Nearly, 40% mortality was observed in seedlings prepared from cuttings taken from soil bed system as against vines taken from trellis system. Hence the based this study, it was concluded that pointed gourd crop grown on Hence on based trellis can potentially reduce the leaf, vine and fruit severity especially when cropping period coincides with rainy season.

Keywords :

 Pointed gourd, Phytophthora melonis, leaf blight, fruit rot, vine rot.