INOCULUM DENSITY OF Sclerotium cepivorum Berk. AND ITS CONTROL WITH TEBUCONAZOLE IN GARLIC (Allium sativum L.)

Abstract

The effect of inoculum density of Sclerotium cepivorum Berk. and its control with tebuconazole (folicur 250 EW) in garlic (Allium sativum L.) was studied. Two factors were tested: inoculum density at four levels (0, 10, 25 and 50 sclerotia per kilogram of soil) and rate of tebuconazole (2 L ha^-1) at three levels (without fungicide, two applications at 0 and 30 days after planting, and three applications at 0, 30 and 60 days). Disease incidence increased as the inoculum density increased. Therefore, losses in dry weight of root, foliage and bulb were higher as the sclerotia density increased. The tebuconazole efficacy depended on the amount of sclerotia in the soil and on the number of fungicide applications. As the soil sclerotia density increased the fungicide efficiency was reduced to 42.6 %, but increasing the frequency of applications increased the efficiency to 87.2 %.