1 Raghavendra Reddy Manda et al. Plant Archives Vol. 21, Supplement 1, 2021 pp. 1903-1911 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 Plant Archives Journal homepage: http://www.plantarchives.org doi link : https://doi.org/10.51470/PLANTARCHIVES.2021.v21.S1.309 Review article ROLE OF DRIP IRRIGATION IN PLANT HEALTH MANAGEMENT, ITS IMPORTANCE AND MAINTENANCE Raghavendra Reddy Manda 1 , Venkata Avinash Addanki 2 and Seweta Srivastava 1* 1 Department of Plant Pathology, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara – 144 411, Punjab, India. 2 Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and the Environment, University of Padua, Padova – 35122, Italy * Corresponding Author – seweta.21896@lpu.co.in ABSTRACT Applying sufficient amount of water to the root zone of the crops is very important to get sustainable crop yields globally. When water applied through irrigation is in excess or deficient this may invite several fungal and bacterial diseases along with the pests and weeds which in turn reduces the crop quality and quantity. Soil moisture content and leaf wetness duration plays significant role in plant disease cycles, for an example some pathogens survive in soil in the form spores, they may disperse from one place to another place through irrigation water and infect the crops cultivated in that area. Thus we can say irrigation as a most important cultural practice in plant health management, especially in the context of less chemically dependent agriculture, paving the way for sustainable agriculture. Hence we can say irrigation has an important role to play in managing plant disease severity and dispersal of pests. Out of which drip irrigation system is of prime importance. In this review we will see how important is drip irrigation system in managing plant health,Importance, components, installation&maintenance of drip irrigation system to increase the life time of drip system. Keywords : Drip irrigation system, Plant health management, Leaf wetness, Components, Acid treatment, Chlorine treatment, Maintenance. Introduction Drip irrigation means the drop by drop application of water directly to the plant root zone. Drip irrigation saves up to 50% of water on comparison to flood and furrow system of irrigation, fertigation via Drip is 30% more effective than Flooding, the combination of drip irrigation and fertigation increases the productivity by up to 200% and in sugarcane by 133%. Drip irrigation saves the energy, reduces the weed growth, reduces the incidence and transmission of pests and diseases. Agriculture is influenced by an array of biotic and abiotic stresses. Plant health is an undermounting pressure due to increase in the number and frequency of new and re – emerging pests. The looming threat of climate change, globalization, intensification and trade development may further exacerbate the crop losses due to the pests. The introduction and spread of plant pests to new areas, cause a serious environmental, social and economic consequences. The indiscriminate use of agricultural chemicals also leads to resistance and resurgence of insect pests, environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity, loss of consumer confidence in food (food safety issues). The global population will almost reach 9.7 billion by 2050, according to U. N’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The intensive use of the ecosystem to enhance the productivity will affect the agro- ecosystems through soil erosion, water contamination, water depletion, loss of bio diversity, which will have a bearing on plant health and plant bio security. According to U. N’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the pests destroy upto 40% of food crops worldwide causing 220 billion USD trade losses annually. To feed the world’s growing population, agriculture production must increase by about 60% by 2050, according to U. N’s estimates. That means we have to do everything to protect plant health from destructive invasive pests. Plant health management is vital for sustainable agriculture, food safety, food security, nutritional security and world’s economy. Therefore environmentally sustainable plant health management practices should be promoted to reduce the excessive reliance on agricultural chemicals. Plant diseases are one of the main constraints that limit agricultural production throughout the globe (Oerke, 2006). World 30 –40% of total food production comes from irrigated agriculture (Martinelli, 2005 & Ondrasek, 2014). The importance of irrigation can be found from a potato production report, where 10% variation in potato water need resulted in significant yield losses, either from water deficiency which lead to deformation and reduced tuber size or excess water which increased the intensity of various pathogens (King et al., 1997). Hence mode of irrigation directly affects the development of plant as well as onset of plant diseases, dispersal of pathogen or its fruiting bodies and disease