Efficacy of biological, chemical and cultural practices for the management of foot and root rot disease of black cumin

Abstract Foot and root rot disease is one of the most serious bottlenecks for black cumin cultivation. To control this disease, a field trial was carried out with four treatments viz. T1: (Autostin 50 WDG @ 0.2%), T2: Cabriotop WG @ 0.3%), T3: Trichoderma suspension @ 5 ml/L, T4: Trichoderma mixed compost @ 50 kg/ha with two cultural practice (raised bed and flat bed system) and a control plot T0. The lowest significant disease incidence (4.17% in 2017 and 7.31% in 2018) was recorded in T4 treated plot of the raised bed system. The highest significant plant height (65.00 cm in 2017 and 64.00 cm in 2018), number of branches/plant (26 in 2017 and 2018), number of capsules/plant (36 in 2017 and 33.67 in 2018), number of seeds/capsule (96 in 2017 and 88.52 in 2018), thousand seed weight (2.72 g in 2017 and 2.65 g in 2018) and yield (1405.33 kg/ha in 2017 and 1384.57 kg/ha in 2018) was recorded in T4 with raised bed system. A negative relationship was found between the foot and root rot disease and yield and 1% disease incidence reduced 21.493 kg yield per hectare. Moreover, the highest benefit cost ratio (3.12 in raised bed and 2.97in flat bed) was obtained from T4 treatment. This study revealed that the use of raised bed along with the application of Trichoderma mixed compost @ 50 kg/ha is the most effective combination to control foot and root rot disease of black cumin.