Effective Management of Pearl Millet Blast (Pyricularia grisea) through Combined Chemical and Biological Tactics

Abstract

Pearl millet is a staple cereal grown in India. It encounters number of diseases which attack the crop during its growth, cause low yield and economic loss to the peasant ad finally to the nation as a whole. The blast also referred as leaf spot caused by Pyricularia grisea has emerged as a serious disease affecting both forage and grain production in pearl millet. in view of this a field experiment was conducted over three consecutive kharif seasons (2021, 2022 and 2023) at the Pearl Millet Research Station, JAU, Jamnagar, to assess to evaluate the efficacy of different fungicide and bio agents in for reducing the pearl millet blast disease as well as Identify the most effective fungicide/bio agents and application rates for minimizing blast intensity. On the basis of field and based on the pooled data, Tebuconazole 50 + Trifloxystrobin 25 WG, 0.04% at 20 and 35 DAS found minimum blast disease intensity (22.96%), Gighest grain yield (2472 kg ha-1) and fodder yield (46.80 q ha-1) over treatment and sprays of Pseudomonas fluorescens, 10 g L-1 at 20 DAS and Tebuconazole 50 + Trifloxystrobin 25 WG, 0.04% at 35 DAS (26.75%), found statistically at par, with blast intensity (26.75%), grain yield (2377 kg ha-1) and fodder yield 44.28 q ha-1).