COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT ANTIBIOTICS, FUNGICIDES AND BOTANICAL EXTRACT FOR THE CONTROL OF CITRUS CANKER OF KINNOW MANDARIN

Abstract

Citrus canker is one of the most devastating disease of citrus crop. It is a worldwide disease, caused by bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. Citri. Citrus canker incidence has been observed on most of the citrus varieties. Severe infection of the bacterium produces a variety of effects including defoliation, dieback, severely blemished fruit, reduced fruit quality and premature fruit drop. Present study was conducted at Citrus Research Institute, Sargodha during the years 2016-18 on ten years old kinnow plants. There were ten treatments including control with four replications. Spray was done four times in a year during the months of March, April, August, and September. The efficacy of different treatments was compared to control the disease incidence on leaves and fruits. It was concluded that bordeaux mixture was the most suitable chemical to control the canker on kinnow plant and it also improved the quality of fruit in terms of fruit weight, fruit size and juice weight. Besides, copper hydroxide and onion extract were also found efficacious to control the disease. In future, these chemicals and plant extracts could be used in different combinations to control canker on different citrus varieties.