Integrated disease management of Rhizoctonia Blight of Groundnut caused by Rhizoctonia solani

Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) is among the world's principal oilseed crops. Millions of small farmers cultivate it as a valuable cash crop because of its nutritional and economic value. Rhizoctonia Blight of Groundnut caused by Rhizoctonia solani, is the most destructive disease that causes huge economic losses in most of the groundnut growing regions. An integrated management strategy was used to combine the use of biocontrol agents, organic amendments, and fungicides alone as well as in combinations with various delivery methods. The results revealed that application of Neem seed cake to the soil @ 500 kg/ha + application of Mustard seed cake to the soil @ 500 kg/ha + treatment of seeds with Tebuconazole @ 1.5g/kg of seed + treatment of seeds with T. asperellum @ 10g/kg of seed was found to be effective with the lowest PDI (17.00 %), maximum germination percentage (97.10%), shoot length (35.3 cm), root length (9.83 cm), number of pods per plant (30.00) and pod yield (3978.86 kg ha-1) with the highest Benefit-Cost ratio (B:C ratio) of 4.60, followed by application of Neem seed cake to the soil @ 500 kg/ha + application of Mustard seed cake to the soil @ 500 kg/ha + treatment of seeds with T. asperellum @ 10g/kg of seed with PDI (19.2 %), germination percentage (94.7 %), shoot length (30.6cm), root length (9.61cm), number of pods per plant (27.00) and pod yield (3490.44kg ha-1) with the Benefit-Cost ratio (B:C ratio) of 3.96. All the treatments showed effectiveness in controlling the disease to some extent, but better control and increased yield were recorded in combination treatments compared to single treatments.