Crop Protection

Limited work on disease and insect pest management was taken up in the project. However, recommendations for management of important diseases and insect pests are as follows:

Crop Disease Etiology Findings & Recommendations
Medicinal Crops
Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) Downy mildew Peronospora arborescens

Seed treatment with metalaxyl and four sprays of metalaxyl @ 0.2% at 35, 55, 75 and 95 days after sowing found most effective in reducing primary and secondary disease incidence. It also increased latex yield (26.7%) and seed yield (24.7%) over control.

Jawahar Opium poppy - 540 having some resistance against the disease has been recommended for M.P.
Senna (Cassia angustifolia) Leaf spot Alternaria alternata Spraying of Bordeaux mixture, benomyl, captafol and copper oxy chloride is recommended.
Isabgol (Plantago ovata) Downy mildew Peronospora alta P. plantaginis Psendoperonospora plantaginis

Seed treatment with metalaxyl at 4g/kg seed and 3 sprays of metalaxyl (0.2%) at 15 days interval starting from first appearance is best for disease control. December sown crops are mostly disease free.

Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina) Leaf blight & Bud rot Alternaria tenuis Spraying of maneb (0.3%) or rovaral (0.2%). Seed treatment with contact fungicides.
Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabnra) Leaf spot Cercospora cavarae Maneb or zineb spray at 0.2%.
Long pepper (Piper longum) Leaf spot & rotting Colletotrichum & Cercospora spp. Spraying of Bordeaux mixture - one during May and 2-3 sprays during rainy season.
Khasi kateri(Solanum viarum) Wilt Fusarium oxysporum Direct sowing of seeds instead of transplanting of seedlings can reduce the disease incidence


Aromatic Crops
Palmarosa & Lemongrass (Cymbopogon spp.) Red leaf spot Collectorichum graminicola

Two sprays of carbendazim (0.1%) or 3 sprays of maneb (0-.3%) starting from first appearance of disease at 20 days or 10-12 days intervals, respectively.
Rose (Rosa damascena) Die back Diplodia rosarum Pruned ends of the shoots should be treated with copper fungicides.
Ambrette seeds (Abelmoschus moschatus) Anthracnose Collectotrichum hibiscicum Seed treatment with contact fungicides and spray of Bordeaux mixture are recommended.