Induction of Defense Enzymes Activity in Chilli Against Colletotrichum Capsici Using IDM Tools

Chilli (Capsicum annum) is mainly infested by fruit rot incited by Colletotrichum capsici. In the present scenario, IDM strategies such as physical methods, chemical methods, cultural methods and biological methods control the diseases effectively. The efficacy of IDM components was evaluated under green house condition for suppressing fruit rot disease incidence, promoting plant growth and induction of defense enzymes in chilli. Among the various treatment tested, maximum amount of β-1, 3 gluconase, (76.70 min1), PO (15.3 min g−1), PPO (1.40 min g−1) and PAL (0.94 min g−1) were observed in the treatment of application of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis (Seed treatment @ 10 g/kg + prophylactic spray @ 0.25% conc. at 25 and 75 DAT) plus spraying 0.2% conc. mancozeb at 50 DAT along with soil application of coir pith compost on 5th day after inoculation of pathogen, apart from inducing the defense related proteins, reduced the wilt disease incidence significantly from 32.2% to 64.89% (control). It has increased the growth attribution viz., plant height (108.2 cm), number of flowers/plant (180 nos.) and number of fruits/plant (110 nos) and ultimately increased the fruit yield from 160.6 g/plant (control) to 380.0 g/plant.