Efficacy of bio-control agents and fungicides in the management of wilt of pigeon pea

Three bioagents viz., Trichoderma viride, Pseudomonas fluorescens and P. aeruginosa and seven fungicides were tested in vitro and in pots against Fusarium udum, the causal agent of wilt of pigeonpea. T. viride completely checked the mycelial growth of F. udum in dual culture. Bacterial bioagents also significantly reduced the growth of the pathogen. Among the fungicides, carbendazim (500 μg ml-1), difenconazole (100 μl ml-1), hexaconazole (200 μl ml-1) and combi product of captan + hexaconazole (250 μg ml-1), and carbendazim + mancozeb (500 μg ml-1) completely inhibited the mycelial growth of the pathogen. In pot culture studies, significantly minimum (13.81 %) incidence of wilt was observed in combined seed treatment of metiram (0.1%) + T. viride which was at par with T. viride alone which showed 20.26 per cent incidence as compared to maximum (52.23 %) wilt incidence in control.