Seed Mycoflora of Safflower and Its Control by Using Botanicals, Bioagents and Fungicides-a Review *d

Leaf spot of safflower caused by Alternaria carthami Chowdhury is common in all the safflower growing regions of the world. The disease was reported from India by Chowdhury (1944) and subsequently from erstwhile USSR (Nelen and Vasileva, 1960), United States (United States Department of Agriculture, 1961), Ethiopia and Kenya (Ellis and Holliday, 1970), Africa (Weiss, 1971), Australia (Irwin, 1975), Pakistan (Stovold,1979) and Italy (Zazzerini and Buonaurio, 1981). Zimmer et al., (1963) assessed that more than 15 per cent yield loss of safflower is caused by Alternaria spp. in the USA. In India, it is the major destructive disease of safflower and estimated to be causing 25-60 per cent yield loss every year (Krishna Prasad and Basuchaudhury, 1988). Preliminary surveys on the intensity of Alternaria leaf blight in northern India revealed 27-90 per cent yield loss when the disease appeared at early stages of crop growth (Krishna Prasad and Basuchaudhury, 1991). Siddaramaiah et al., (1963) and Mahabaleswarappa (1981) reported the severity of leaf blight of safflower in the state of Karnataka. Severe leaf blight leading to blighting of leaves was documented by Mohanty et al., (1981) in Orissa. Patil and Jadav (1985) and Indi et al., (1988) reported the economic losses caused due to Alternaria carthami in Maharashtra region. Singh et al., (1991) and Awadhiya (1992) noticed the occurrence of Alternaria leaf blight leading to considerable economic losses in Madhya Pradesh.