There are some major Sunflower disease given below:-
S.No. |
Diseases of Sunflower |
|
| 1. | Alternaria Blight |  |
| 2. | Rust |  |
| 3. | Charcoal Rot |  |
| 4. | Rhizopus Head Rot |  |
| 5. | Sclerotium wilt or rot |  |
| 6. | Sunflower Downy Mildew |  |
| 7. | Sunflower mosaic virus (SMV) |  |
Monitoring for Pest & Disease
- Organise regular pest and disease monitoring and assess bio-control potential at 15 days intervals.
- Observations are taken at every 5 to 10 km distance, 10 spots per ha randomly and 10 plants per spot.
- Install pheromone traps 10 per ha to monitor moth population of Helicoverpa and Spodoptera litura.
Pre-sowing stage
- Deep summer ploughing
- Clean cultivation
- Seed treatment with T. harzianum of T. viride @ 4 g/kg seed for diseases.
- Soil application of Verticillium chlonydosperium @ 2 Kg/ha along with compost followed by irrigation for nematode management.
Sowing stage
- Use resistant varieties
- Use certified disease free seed
- Early sowing
- Sow the crop in ridges at 15-20 cm height in cutworm endemic areas.
- Use mechanical devices to scare parakeets.
- Rogue downy mildew and sunflower necrosis disease infected plants and destroy them.
Vegetative stage
- Conserve biocontrol agents like Cotesia spp., spiders, anthocorids, Chrysopa, Lady bird beetles, mandits and reduviid bugs.
- Install 15 bird perches per hectare for predatory birds.
- Release 1-2 larva per plant of Chrysoperla carnea at an early stage of the crop.
Flowering stage
- Use NPV @ 250 LE/ha against Helicoverpa and Spodoptera .
- Use B.t. (K) 1 kg/ha against Spodoptera.
- Release 1-2 larva per plant of Chrysoperla carnea at early stage of crop
- Conserve bio-control agents like Cotesia spp., spiders, anthocorids, Chrysopa, Lady bird beetles, mandits and reduvid bugs.
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
