Integrated disease management (IDM) for effective control of Phomopsis vexans causing blight and fruit rot in Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) in Odisha

Phomopsis blight and fruit rot are major constraint to brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) cultivation, often causing substantial reductions in yield and market quality in Odisha. This two-year study evaluated integrated disease management (IDM) strategies combining cultural, biological and chemical components against Phomopsis vexans under both in vitro and field conditions. Treatments differed significantly in disease incidence, severity and yield. The most effective IDM treatment recorded the lowest disease incidence included Carbendazim at 2 g per kg of seed, seedling root dip with Pseudomonas fluorescens (2 × 10⁸ cfu/g) @ 10 g/L water, foliar spray of Propiconazole 25 % EC @ 0.15 % at the vegetative stage (45 DAT) and Hexaconazole 5 % SC @ 0.1 % at the fruiting stage (75 DAT) resulted in the lowest disease incidence (8.74 %) and the highest fruit yield (377 q/ha). A comparable treatment comprising Carbendazim seed treatment, soil application of P. fluorescens (15 kg/ha) with vermicompost, turmeric extract (10 %) at the vegetative stage and Hexaconazole (0.1 %) at fruiting reduced disease incidence to 12.96 % and produced 362 q/ha. Overall, the findings underscore the integrated treatments were significantly more effective than those involving individual components and the untreated control. The findings underscore the effectiveness of IDM strategies for sustainable management of Phomopsis fruit rot in brinjal under Odisha’s agro-climatic conditions.