Management of ginger rhizome rot in Shiwalik region of North-western Himalayas

Rhizome rot of ginger caused by a fungal complex (Pythium, Fusarium and Rhizoctonia) is an economically important disease. To manage rhizome rot disease of ginger (Zingiber officinale), physical, chemical and biological treatments were evaluated under field conditions for three successive years from 2021-2023 at Research farm of Regional Research Station (Punjab Agricultural University), Ballowal Saunkhri, Punjab. Seed rhizomes were treated with hot water (51 C for 10 min), solution of fungicides namely Indofil M-45 (mancozeb 75% WP), Ridomil Gold (64% w/w mancozeb + 4% w/w metalaxyl-M), Bavistin (carbendazim 50% WP), Captan 50 (captan 50% WP), Seedex 2DS (tebuconazole 2% DS), a biocontrol agent Trichoderma harzianum, and untreated control. Among the eight treatments evaluated, rhizome treatment with Ridomil Gold @ 0.2% showed greatest efficacy (50.0%, 47.2% & 46.8%) with maximum per cent disease control (PDC) and highest rhizome yield (26.0, 25.3 and 25.1 t ha ) however, -1 Mancozeb @ 0.3% was at par with Ridomil. Rhizome treatment with T. harzianum exhibited minimum disease control (27.9%, 19.4% and 9.3%) and lowest rhizome yield (11.5, 12.3 and 11.6 t ha ) proved to be -1 least effective. A strong negative correlations (-0.84 to -0.94, -0.86 to -0.97 and -0.84 to -0.98) of rhizome rot incidence with other plant growth parameters was found during 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. .