RESPONSE OF BELL PEPPER GERMPLASM, PHYTOEXTRACTS AND SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS TOWARDS SOUTHERN BLIGHT CAUSED BY Sclerotium rolfsii UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) is prone to attack by a number of diseases, but Southern blight is the most destructive disease caused by Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. For selection of resistant source, ten varieties of bell pepper were screened out against southern blight in the research area, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Results demonstrated that two varieties (TSP-041 and Corral F1) exhibited resistance response, three varieties (Freedom F1, Super Globe F1 and SP-042) expressed moderately resistant, two varieties (Asha, Extra-2) showed moderately susceptible response and the remaining three (SP-041, Aleena F1 and Sayio F1) showed susceptible response against southern blight. For management, four fungicides namely (Cymoxanil+Mancozeb, Systhane, Matalaxyl+Mancozeb, Rescue) @ 0.05, 0.1 and 0.25 and four phytoextracts (Cassia fistula, Allium sativa, Azadirachta indica and Allium cepa) at three concentrations (S/50, S/25, S/15) were evaluated against southern blight of bell pepper on susceptible variety, Savio F1 under RCBD. Out of four fungicides Systhane showed minimum plants mortality (8.676%), while Cymoxanil+Mancozeb showed 14.46, Matalaxyl+Mancozeb 16.566 and Rescue 19.24% of plants mortality as compared to control under field conditions. Among four Plant extracts A. indica proved the most effective against southern blight followed by Cassia fistula, Allium sativa and Allium cepa as compared to control.