In Vitro Evaluation of Some Fungicides against Common Fungal Pathogen of Early Blight and Fruit Rot of Tomatoes

Diseases are still the main cause of reduction of yield in tomato crops in Pakistan. Early blight and fruit rot of tomatoes are the most important diseases caused by Alternariasolani. These diseases are responsible to cause tremendous yield loss in tomato crops in District Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This research was initiated to isolate the causal agents of early blight and fruit rot of tomatoes and to determine the efficacy of commonly available fungicides against them. Five fungicides Helonil (Chlorothalonil), Copper Oxychloride, Antracol, Ridomil gold and Desomil platinum were evaluated in vitro against radial growth of Alternariasolani at six different concentrations. The results showed that Chlorothalonil has better effectiveness as compared to others followed by clipper and Antracol. The most effective dose of Helonil (Chlorothalonil) was recorded as 400 ppm with inhibition of (82.85%) followed by clipper (64.70%) at 500 ppm and Antracol (46.66%) at 1000 ppm. Least inhibition was observed in Ridomil (7.74%) and Desomil (8.57%) with concentration of 300 ppm