An IPM plan for early blight disease of potato Alternaria solani sorauer and A. alternata (Fries.) Keissler

Potato early blight disease, Alternaria solani and A. alternate, is of worldwide importance. It is necessary to take control measures, being economic, broadly applicable and well adapted by farmers. In this regard, for an integrated pest management programs, trails were conducted on irrigation types; sprinkler, drip and furrow systems, panting methods; one and two rows, delay in planting date, susceptibility of cultivars and application of fungicides impacts on early blight disease of potato. Descriptive statistics and principal component analysis were computed using SAS software version 9.1.3. (SAS Inc., Cary, NC) and the means comparison by Duncan multiple rang tests (DMRT). It was found that almost the entire relevant factors had significant impacts on reduction of the disease. Sprinkler and drip irrigations significantly decreased the disease in comparison with furrow irrigation system respectively. Double and single row planting reduced the disease effectively. A month and two weeks delay in planting date at various growth stages had a significant effect on disease reduction, respectively. Resistant and tolerant cultivars, Diamante, Granola and Maradona cultivars had the lowest disease severity. Whereas, Marquis, Premier and Atlantic cultivars had the highest infection to early blight disease. Low-consumption fungicides, Flint (trifloxystrobin (ISO) belongs to the strobilurin) at the rates of 250, 200 and 150 g/ha were the most effective fungicide to control the potato early blight disease. This indicating that the combination of said cultural practices can effectively control the early blight disease of potato and also reduce fungicides consumption accordingly.