Management of Collar Rot Disease of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) caused by Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. under Rice based Cropping System

Collar rot disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) caused by the fungus Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. is one of the most common diseases of chickpea in rice-based cropping systems, resulting in significant yield loss. Research was conducted to manage collar rot disease by treating seeds with various fungicides and bio-control agents in order to minimize the economic damage caused by the disease and reduce the yield loss of the chickpea crop. In vitro, at 250 ppm concentration, three contact fungicides, mancozeb 75WP, propineb 70WP, and thiram 75WP, completely inhibited the mycelial growth. Whereas, three combined and one systemic fungicide viz., trifloxystrobin 25% + tebuconazole 50% WP, carbendazim (12%) + mancozeb (63%) 75 WP, azoxystrobin 18.2 + difenconazole 11.4 SC and tebuconazole 2 SD were found most effective fungicides to inhibit cent per cent mycelial growth of S. rolfsii under in vitro condition at lowest tested concentration. Trichoderma harzianum was found to be the most effective to inhibit the mycelia growth of S. rolfsii. In field, chickpea seeds treated with azoxystrobin + difenconazole @ 0.5ml/kg seed, T. harzianum (2x10⁶ cfu/g) @ 10g/kg seed and Pseudomonas fluorescens NAU isolate (1x10⁸ cfu/ml) @ 10ml/kg seed resulted in maximum germination per cent, minimum disease incidence and higher grain and straw yield (kg/ha) under rice based cropping system.