Development of an economically viable and effective fungicide spray schedule for the management of spot blotch of wheat

摘要

Abstract Spot blotch of wheat is of growing significance for the wheat producing nations of the world. An experiment was conducted for two consecutive years (2017–18 and 2018–19) to assess yield loss due to the disease and to identify a suitable fungicidal spray schedule for effective management. Three and four sprays of Propiconazole 25 EC (0.1%) were found to be the most effective among the treatments in managing the disease in both the consecutive years. Four sprays of Propiconazole resulted in highest grain yield in both 2017–18 (3845 kg ha−1) and 2018–19 (3970 kg ha−1), while three sprays had recorded second highest yield in the two consecutive years (3740 kg ha−1 and 3875 kg ha−1) in 2017–18 and 2018–19 respectively. Highest avoidable losses of grain yield due to spot blotch were 26.91% and 24.99% for four sprays and three sprays, respectively. The results also inferred that three sprays of fungicide (Propiconazole 25 EC @ 0.1%) had the highest benefit cost ratio (BCR) (7.98) and was the most effective in maximizing the profit.