Overview of Management Practices of Tomato Late Blight (Phytoptera Infestans Mont.) Disease

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 10, Issue 4, July 2023

Year:

2023

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Epidemiology, IDM, Late Blight, Management, Tomato

Authors:

Sako, Asela Kesho; Demissie, Yitagesu Tadesse

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

10

Number:

4

Pages:

52-60

Month:

July

ISSN:

2348-3997

Abstract:

The late blight disease caused by P. infestans is a serious disease in tomato crops. When the development of late blight due to the virulence of the pathogen, environmental conditions favorable for the pathogen and traditional farming systems such as the use of susceptible cultivars, monoculture cropping system, and improper fungicides application are important for the epidemiology of late blight. Growing tomatoes throughout the year have created conducive conditions for the buildup of many diseases demanding comprehensive research outputs for their effective and sustainable management. The majority of tomato production in Ethiopia is dominated by smallholders that do not have access to improved and effective pest management technologies. Efforts to transfer crop protection technologies generated through research were minimal due to poor research-extension-farmers linkage. The objective of this study was to overview research achievements of tomato late blight management, identifies gaps and suggests future research directions in the area of tomato late blight management research and development. Non-pesticide management options such as cultural and host resistance against major pests did not reach the smallholder vegetable farmers due to limited effort made by the research-extension system. Integration of resistant and moderately resistant varieties with Ridomil foliar sprays was found to be an effective treatment in reducing tomato late blight epidemics and increasing fruit yields currently. In this review use of various management options are important to reduce epidemiology of late blight. Future research should focus on developing an IDM with no or minimum input of chemical pesticides. The research-extension system and extension-farmers linkage for crop protection technologies should be strengthened.

Full text: IJRAS_1106_FINAL.pdf [Bibtex]