INTEGRATED DISEASE MANAGEMENT OF EARLY BLIGHT (ALTERNARIA SOLANI) OF POTATO

This review is to reviewed with an objective of reviewing the overall aspect of early blight of potato crop along with its management options. Potato is the most important vegetable crop in terms of quantities produced and consumed worldwide. It is the fast-growing major crop in the world with important economic impact on many resource-poor farming families. However, its production is currently disturbed by a number of biotic and abiotic constraints. Epidemics of early blight caused by Alternaria spp. can cause significant economic damage to potato production if not timely controlled. It is prevalent worldwide wherever potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are grown. The disease can damage both potato foliage and tubers and can causes yield losses of 5-50%. Early blight is a poly cyclic disease that can cause more than one disease epidemics within a single cropping season. It is difficult to control because of its capacity to produce huge amounts of secondary inoculum. Since the disease is very important in causing economic losses of yields on potato crop, developing and using effective and appropriate management options is necessary. Using good cultural practices and applying chemical fungicides are important in reducing as well as managing of early blight disease of potato. Even though there is no well-developed biological control of early blight, it is very important to develop such management strategies. Because biological control measures are specific, efficient and environmentally safe. In order to control early blight in potato, studies were conducted to identify the optimal fungicide strategy and, if possible, to reduce the number of fungicide applications per growing season. Therefore, a disease-threshold-based framework was tested to define the optimal timing of fungicide application. The initiation and subsequent applications of fungicides were based on increases in disease incidence or severity.