EFFECTIVENESS OF MICROBIAL CONSORTIA IN MANAGEMENT OF WILT DISEASE AND YIELD MAXIMIZATION IN TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L.)

A two-year field study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of microbial consortia in controlling wilt disease in tomatoes, comparing it with conventional chemical pesticide practices.The treatments included NRC Litchi Consortia/Trichoderma (T 2 ), ICAR-HIR Microbial Consortia/Arka Microbial (T 1 ), and Farmer's Practices (FP) relying on chemical pesticides.Results demonstrated that microbial consortia significantly delayed the onset of wilt and reduced wilt incidence at 45, 60, and 75 days after transplanting (DAT).T 2 showed the highest delay in first wilt incidence (40.84 DAT pooled data) and the lowest wilting rate by 75 DAT (2.67%), followed by T 1 , while FP had the highest wilt incidence (19.10% by 75 DAT).Yield data further confirmed the superior performance of microbial consortia, with T 2 yielding 290.70 q/ha, followed by T 1 at 257.90 q/ha, both significantly outperforming FP (226.00 q/ha).Economic analysis revealed that despite similar cultivation costs, T 2 achieved the highest gross return (Rs.5,23,260/ha) and net return (Rs.4,79,675/ha), resulting in a benefit-cost ratio (BC) of 4.34, compared to 3.52 for FP.These findings highlight the potential of microbial consortia as a sustainable and economically beneficial alternative to chemical pesticide treatments in managing wilt disease in tomatoes.