Morphological Assessment of Resistance Potential in Tomato Against Early Blight Disease and Its Management

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.); a vital member of Solanaceae family and commonly consumed vegetable worldwide.Early blight caused by the fungus Alternaria solani, with salient feature of target board effect or concentric rings is the most common foliar disease of tomato that reduces fruit yield.The present study was aimed at avoidance of fungicides and management of early blight through resistance source and nutrients.Tomato germplasm (Nadir F 1 , Naqeeb F 1 , Johir, Gohar, Walter Gaint FM 9 and Money Maker) were screened against Alternaria solani to find out the resistance potential against early blight under field conditions.Data of disease severity and disease incidence was recorded fortnightly that showed only a single variety "Johir" expressed resistant (R) response out of 6 entries.The response of 2 varieties "Nadir F 1 and Gohar" was tolerant, "Walter Gaint FM 9 " was susceptible (S) while "Naqeeb F 1 and Money Maker" were highly susceptible (HS) against early blight.The varieties "Nadir F 1 , Naqeeb F 1 , Johir and Gohar" were used for management purpose.The plants were treated with zinc sulphate (ZnSO 4 ), copper sulphate (CuSO 4 ), manganese sulphate (MnSO 4 ) and boric acid were used in different combinations i.e., T 1 (ZnSO 4 +CuSO 4 ), T 2 (MnSO 4 +CuSO 4 ), T 3 (boric acid+CuSO 4 ) and T 4 (ZnSO 4 +MnSO 4 +CuSO 4 +BA).The combination of ZnSO 4 +MnSO 4 +CuSO 4 +BA showed minimum disease severity (5.85%) and disease incidence (23.15%) as compared to control (28.59%).The outcomes of present study would be the way forward for getting rid of irrational use of synthetic chemicals for disease management.