Role of foliar spray in the infection biology and management of fungal diseases of watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum and Nakai]

Eight fungal species were found to be associated with watermelon seeds were tested for their pathogenicity under field conditions. Among which Myrothecium verrucaria, Didymella bryoniae, Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani were found to be highly pathogenic, resulted in the decreased percentage of seed germination, seedling vigour, ultimately reduced the yield of the crop. As the consequence of the severity of infection, plants showed the varied degree of leaf spots, blight, gummy stem blight and wilt symptoms. In the field to manage these diseases, the plants were separately sprayed with the fungicides at three schedules with equal intervals of 3 days. Among the fungicides, Topsin was effective against the leaf spot diseases where, as Dithane M-45 showed promising results against gummy stem blight. Bavistin efficiently controlled the wilt disease. Over all observations indicated broad-spectrum activity of Topsin in the management of fungal diseases and hence there was enhanced growth and increased yield of the crops