Alternaria blight in mustard cause heavy damage to the foliar parts resulting into poor growth and development of plants and thereby reduces seed yield.  Inorder to manage Alternaria infestation in mustard seed for yield maximization, an experiment was conducted in the plant protection laboratory in Nepal Polytechnic Institute, Bharatpur, Chitwan in 2018, using Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replicates. Five treatments i.e.Uthane M-45 (2g/kg), Neem powder (3 g/kg), Bojho powder (4g/kg), Trichoderma harzianum, (107 Conidia/mL) and control (without treatment) were used for seed treatment of local variety of Mustard. Four hundred seeds for each treatment (25 seeds in each petriplate) were plated using triple layers of moistened blotter paper in  petriplate and incubated at (27±20C) for 2 days and followed deep freezing for 24 hrs. Data of disease incidence and seed germination were recorded in 3, 7 and 10 days after incubation (DAI). Seedling vigor and seedling weight were also recorded at 5 DAI. The percentage of Alternaria spp incidence on seeds at different DAI showed highly significant with respect to different treatments. Application of Uthane M-45 and T. harzianum significantly reduced the seed-borne infection of Alternaria spp. as compared to control.  At 3 DAI Uthane M-45 completely checked the pathogen however, only 4% and 5% disease incidence was observed in 7 DAI and 10 DAI respectively. Bio control agent Trichoderma harzianum was found next best alternative after Uthane M-45 to control disease. Plant extract Bojho powder and Neem powder were found better than control to check the disease. Furthermore, highest germination (76%) was observed in Trichoderma treatment whereas, lowest germination was found in control.

Nine isolates of Trichoderma spp. were isolated from different agro- ecological regions of Nepal viz; Jumla, Palpa, Chitwan, Tarahara, Banke, Illam and Salyan and screened against Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. Adreded soil borne phytopathogen causing collar rot of chickpea in chickpea; In-vitro efficacy of nine fungal antagonist (Trichoderma spp.) against Sclerotium rolfsii were screened. Pot experiment was done to find out the effective management of S. rolfsi through Tricoderma using different methods i.e. Seed treatment, soil drenching and soil application. All the tested isolates of Trichoderma spp. were found effective on mycelial growth inhibition and sclerotial parasitization of S. rolfsii. Trichoderma isolated from Palpa district showed maximum growth inhibition (%) of pathogen periodically after 48(93.78%), 72(96.00%), 96(97.96%) and 120(100.00%) hours of inoculation. Parasitized sclerotium showed minimum sclerotial germination on agar plates. Moreover, Trichoderma species isolated from Palpa districts showed second best percent mycelial growth inhibition periodically at 72(25.00%), 120(29.16%), 168(29.16%) and 216(29.16%).In pot experiment at 40 days after sowing, Seedling height was maximum in soil drenching with 30g per 100ml of water (22.27cm) and Mortality percentage of seedlings was least or highest disease control was observed in seed treated with 109cfu/ml (0.000%).

The Plasmodiophora brassicae Woronin is an important soil pathogen that attacks brassicaceae family of plants. The ability of pathogen to survive in soil for many years as a resting structure even in the absence of suitable host has increased its threat by making it more devastating. Lower effectiveness of treatments applied so far and failure to completely eradicate the disease once it enters the field has posed more problems. The study was conducted at a disease infected field in Sidhuwa, Dhankuta. It was focused on the effectiveness of different cultural and biological treatments against clubroot disease under field conditions. The treatments; lime, combination of lime and vermicompost, Effective Microorganisms (EM) solution and Trichoderma viride were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated four times. The yield and yield attributing parameters and clubroot scale were recorded at the time of harvest. Values like Disease Incidence, Disease Severity Index and Disease Control Percentage were calculated based on clubroot scale value. The treatments showed no significant influence on vegetative parameters of the plants and on disease incidence. However, the combined treatment of lime and vermicompost was found to be most effective regarding disease severity and disease control i.e. the least Disease Severity Index (31.25%) and highest Disease Control Percentage (50.94%) compared to the control were obtained from the combined treatment of lime and vermicompost. Effective Microorganisms showed the highest disease severity. The combination of lime and vermicompost used as a treatment yielded highest marketable head weight (1.779 kg) and head diameter (19.90 cm).

A field experiments was carried out in Pokhara, Kaski, Nepal, to identify integrated disease management options against late blight of potato under natural epiphytotic conditions.Twelve genotypes of potato, including Janakdev as resistant and Cardinal as susceptible, were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Similarly, a two-factor randomized complete block design experiment with three replications was carried out to investigate the interaction effect of planting date and application of chemical, botanical extracts, and a biocontrol agent.Susceptible variety Cardinal was planted in three different dates starting from October 11 at a 15-day interval and received five sprays each of the chemical fungicide Krilaxyl Gold (mancozeb 64% + metalaxyl 8%), 10% V/V extracts of garlic (Allium sativum), neem (Azadirachta indica), and bakaino (Melia azedarach), and Phytoderma (Trichoderma viride) 109 CFU/mL) and water spray as an untreated control.Among the genotypes, CIP384321.15 and Khumal Ujjwal showed the significantly (p<0.01) the lowest mean value of AUDPC (the area under the disease progress curve), whereas susceptible check Cardinal and Khumal Laxmi showed the significantly (p<0.01) the highest mean AUDPC values. Similarly, the 11 October planting with the application of Krilaxyl Gold showed the lowest total AUDPC  value (382.65) and the highest total AUDPC value (1533.41). Besides the chemical fungicide, the application of extracts of garlic, bakaino, neem, and phytoderma could significantly reduce the disease and increase tuber yield. These botanical extracts and biocontrol agents can be used in the integrated disease management of potato late blight.

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