Influence of weather parameters on the incidence and development of rust (Puccinia arachidis Speg.) disease in groundnut

摘要

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oilseed crop grown in India. In Tamil Nadu, groundnut was grown in an area of 10.8 lakh ha with the annual production of 17.6 lakh tonnes and productivity of 1630 kg ha~(-1). The yield of groundnut was beset by number of insects and diseases. Among them the rust disease incited by Puccinia arachidis Speg. causes yield loss upto 54.5 per cent (Bulbule et al. 1997). Weather factors viz. minimum temperature, maximum temperature, relative humidity both evening and morning, rainfall and bright sunshine hours influenced the occurrence and development of any disease. Hence for predicting the occurrence of any disease all these environmental factors are to be considered as an important parameters. The management of any disease can be better achieved by predicting the disease in advance. Since the rust disease in groundnut causes greater loss during favourable weather, an attempt was made to develop a prediction model by involving weather parameters.