EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT FARMING SYSTEMS FOR MANAGEMENT OF RHIZOME ROT DISEASE OF ZINGER (ZINGIBER OFFICINALE ROSE) INCITED BY PYTHIUM APHANIDERMATUM (EDSON) FITZShivanand Hongal, Nagesh, Maheswarappa H.P., Gurumurthy S.B., Shankar Meti, Divya S. Bhat and Sudheesh KulkarniAbstract Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is an herbaceous perennial crop mainly cultivated for underground rhizomes which is used as spice, flavoring, food and medicine. Rhizome rot disease is one among the major constraints of crop production incited by Pythium aphanidermatum resulting into significant yield loss and even it will lead to total failure of the crop. The disease is catastrophic in all the ginger growing countries across the world as well as India. In this context, we evaluated different farming systems like natural farming, organic farming, chemical framing and recommended package of practices (UHS, Bagalkot, Karnataka) against rhizome rot of ginger. Experiments were conducted for three consecutive years during 2019, 2020 and 2021. A randomized block design with five replications was used to set up the experiment. Among the evaluated management practices, chemical farming (Metalaxyl8% + Mancozeb 64% WP) was found to be effective with a least percent disease incidence (18.57% PDI) for three consecutive years and remaining treatments found similar trend during experimental period. Recommended package of practice (23.50% PDI) and organic farming (27.60% PDI) were found to be the next best treatments. Maximum disease severity was recorded in natural farming (32.20% PDI) which is least effective against management of disease. Chemical farming can effectively control the disease but results in the serious risk on human health and environmental hazards. Therefore, natural and organic farming are an alternative approach that are eco-friendly and economically viable effective management approaches against rhizome rot of zinger. These approaches include improved cultural practices and biological methods that effectively manage the soil and seed borne pathogens responsible for rhizome rot disease. |