Influence of weather parameters on the incidence of foot rot of black pepper

摘要

In India, foot rot of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.). caused by Phytophythora capsici Leonian emend A. Alizadeh and P.H.T. sao is the major disease occuring in all pepper growing tracts (Sarma etal. 1991). In kerala, the disease incidence was seasonal and mostly confined to the South West monsoon period (Anandaraj et al. 1991). Ramachandran et al., (1988) reported that the intensity of rainfall, rainy days and relative humidity exhibited a positive correlation on the foliar infection of black pepper grown as mixed cropping system in Kerala. Unnikrishnan Nair et al., (1988) also reported that intensity of rainfall, more number of rainy days and high relative humidity had positive correlation whereas, the maximum temperature and sunshine hours had a negative correlation with foot rot incidence. The symptom expression was delayed when the temperature was 28 deg C and above (Nambiar and Sarma, 1977).