Damage Analysis and Establishment of Control Threshold for Phytophthora Blight of Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Incidence of Phytophthora blight of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) and yield (fresh weight) of pepper fruits were investigated at four separate fields located in Cheongwon, Boeun, Eumsung, and Goesan, which are major pepper production areas in Chungcheongbuk-Do. In all of the experimental fields except the Goesan field, increased incidence of Phytophthora blight led to decreased yield of pepper fruits. The harvest time in which the yield of red pepper fruits was highly correlated with the incidence of Phytophthora blight was different between areas: it was highly correlated in the third harvest in Cheongwon (y=-11.0x+435.2, r2= 0.99), but in the second harvest in Boeun (y=-15.0x+944.6, r2=0.76). In contrast, there was a very low correlation between the pepper yield and the disease incidence in Goesan in which pepper seedlings grafted on resistant stocks were planted. The final disease incidence in the Cheongwon experimental field reached 100% more than 40 days later in 2007 compared with that in 2006. The control threshold of Phytophthora blight in the pepper fields where disease incidence had been lower than 5% was set as 0.8% disease incidence, which caused less than 5% yield loss