Pea root rot/wilt complex is a highly destructive disease and is found to be associated with more than 20 different fungal pathogens around the globe (USDA, 1960). Among those pathogens Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani and Phoma medicaginis var. pinodella have been reported to be associated with this complex disease of the pea in Himachal Pradesh (Sagar, 1996; Kapoor etal, 2006). Disease incidences varied from 35.3 to 54.7 area to area/area-wise within the state (Kumari et ai, 2016). Pathogens associated with pea root rot/wilt complex are soil borne in nature and it affects crop at the pre-flowering or flowering stage. The disease initiates with the disintegration/rotting of tissues around the attachmentarea of cotyledon, and then proceeds downward up to tap root which leads yellowing of basal leaves, vascular discoloration and ultimately wilting of the infected plants. This disease is referred to as a root rot/wilt complex disease due to the presenceof a mixture of both wilting and rotting symptoms in the plant (Lin et al., 1984). Fusarium species are generally opportunistic and requires plant stress to cause severe infections (Leslie et al., 1990) and often overwinter inside and on crop residues (Larkin, 2015). Conditions like compact soil, high soil temperatures, high soil moisture levels and flooding or drought favor disease development (Tu, 1994). Monoculture (Anonymous, 2005), lack of knowledge of package and practices (Kumar, 2013), use of susceptible cultivars (Kapoor, 2006), and soil borne nature of pathogens are the major constraints for pea production and also for the management of disease in HP. Hence, the present experiment is conducted to know about the effective fungicides that can protect the crop from the development of the pathogens.
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