Field evaluation of different copper sources in a consortium of ‘Copper-Chitosan-Trichoderma’ for management of late blight disease of tomato

Abstract

Present field experiment was conducted to compare the efficacy of different copper compounds viz.; CuOH (Technical grade), CuOH (Kocide) and Copper sulphate pentahydrate (CuSO4.5H2O) in combination with chitosan (Cs661) and Trichoderma asperellum (Tri) to find out the most effective copper source in the combination for late blight disease management in tomato. Among the three copper compounds, CuOH (TG) was found to be the most effective copper source in the combination. Minimum disease severity (2.33%) was recorded in plots treated with CuOH (TG)+Cs661(Ac)+Tri whereas maximum disease severity was recorded in control plot (40%) after 95 DAT. In terms of other attributes such as yield, reduction in disease progress (A and r value), the most effective treatment was CuOH (TG)+Cs661(Ac)+Tri, which was at par with standard fungicide mancozeb and significantly higher as compared to control. The preliminary results suggest that the combination variants having CuOH as copper source could be developed as effective combination products as Cu- based fungicides for safe and effective management of late blight disease of tomato.