Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon  esculentum  Mill.)  is the most  important solanaceous vegetable crop and is one of the most vital  vegetables  economically  in  the  world including Pakistan. It is susceptible to various diseases in tunnel farming conditions which bring huge losses to its production, among them; fusarium wilt is the most destructive disease. This study was conducted to test the efficacy of synthetic fungicides viz.  Metalaxyl+Mancozeb, Copper oxychloride,  Benalaxyl+Mancozeb, Carbendazim and Mancozeb at different concentrations (2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 g/litre water) through soil drench method against fusarium wilt of tomato caused  by  Fusarium  oxysporum  f.  sp.  lycopersici  and also  to  observe  the  impacts  of fungicides on plant height and yield under the tunnel farming condition. The result revealed that Copper oxychloride was significantly effective in all its doses to control the fusarium wilt of tomato as compared to control treatments, the most effective dose was 3 g/l where the disease severity was recorded 6.2% only, followed by Metalaxyl+Mancozeb (4g/l) in which  the  disease  severity was  recorded  9.6% as compared to control (76.6%),  other  fungicides  also  showed  good  results  but Mancozeb alone was not effective,  however it had synergistic effect and could be used as basis with the other  product  to  control  the  fusarium wilt.  Two of the fungicides proved to be the less effective fungicides having no significant effects on plant height and overall yield. The highest plant height was recorded 10.96 and  9.38 as compared to control 3.00  feet,  whereas  the  highest  yield  per  plant  was  recorded  3.97  and  3.67  kg  in  case  of  Copper oxychloride and Metalaxyl+Mancozeb respectively as compared to control 1.60 kg. It is concluded that Copper oxychloride was the most effective fungicide against the fusarium wilt disease among the five tested fungicides under tunnel farming conditions, so should be suggested to be used against this devastating disease.