ISSN : 2348-8808 (Print ), 2348-8867 (Online) Journal of AgriSearch 1(3): 151-156 Dynamics of Anthracnose Disease of Chilli in Responses to Water and Nitrogen Management under Drip and Flood Irrigation ANIL KUMAR SINGH * AND AK PANDEY ICAR Research Complex for Easter Region, ICAR Parisar, Patna-800 014, Bihar (India) ABSTRACT Colletotrichum is one of the most important plant pathogens worldwide, causing the economically important disease anthracnose in a wide range of hosts including chilli (Capsicum spp.). A ield experiment was conducted to investigate the extent and pattern of anthracnose disease (Colletotrichum sp.) in the inluences of drip irrigation, spacing and nitrogen fertigation in chili (Capsicum annuum L.). The results revealed that drip irrigation reduced anthracnose disease infestation four times as compared to the lood irrigation method. Dripper spacing plays a signiicant role in reducing the disease incidence, least infestation (4.0%) was noticed in case of dripper placed at 60 cm apart as compared to closer spacing of dripper. Fertigation also reduces disease incidence more than three times as compared to top dressing apart from saving in labour and time. Fertigation resulted in maximum yield (1.20 Kg/m 2 ). The drip irrigation had signiicantly increased yield (1.50 Kg/m 2 ) and net income (60.30 %) as compared to lood irrigation. Key words: Anthracnose, Chillies, Drip irrigation, Fertigation, Disease ARTICLE INFO Received on : 18.05.2014 Revised received on : 21.06.2014 Accepted on : 01.07.2014 Published online : 07.09.2014 Corresponding authors Email: anil.icarpat@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Anthracnose disease is one of the major economic constraints of chilli production worldwide, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Colletotrichum is one of the most important plant pathogens worldwide, causing the economically important disease anthracnose in a wide range of hosts, including cereals, legumes, vegetables, perennial crops and tree fruits. Among these hosts, chilli (Capsicum spp.), an important economic crop is severely infected by anthracnose, which may cause yield losses of up to 50%. Typical anthracnose symptoms on chilli fruit include sunken necrotic tissues, with concentric rings of acervuli. Fruits showing blemishes have reduced marketability. Water and fertilizer are the two costliest inputs in agriculture. There is the need to develop eficient cultural practices for curbing plant disease in the climate change era (Singh et al., 2013). Development of eficient water management techniques is one of the prominent options available among others. Apart from the economics consideration, it is also well known that the adverse effect of injudicious use of water and fertilizer on the environment can have far reaching implications (Singh et al., 2012c). There is, therefore, a need for technological options, which will help in sustaining the precious resources and maximizing crop production without any detrimental impact on the environment. Micro-irrigation is the only option to replace the conventional irrigation method to achieve water-use eficiency (Pandey et al, 2013 and Singh et al., 2012b). The area under drip irrigation, which was over 3.55 lakh ha in 2002, presently, adoption of drip irrigation in India, is increasing and about 6.0 lakh ha area is covered under drip irrigation under various crops. Among the various techniques developed for application of water, drip irrigation also referred to as trickle irrigation or micro-irrigation is gaining popularity as perhaps the most eficient method of water application (Bucks et al., 1982). As water, labour and land preparation become costlier; this technique of water application is bound to replace conventional systems. Chowdhury (1992) reported that the irrigation water saving is by using recent micro-irrigation technique over conventional methods range from 40 to 70 percent. Globally, India is a leading country in the context of the area covered in chilli production, making it’s the most dominant player in the world chilli market. Water is an important input for growing this crop during the season. Pepper is most susceptible horticultural plants to