Management of grape anthracnose

Management of grape anthracnose

Biological control is preferred

Most of the important diseases of grapes such as anthracnose downy mildew and powdery mildew are caused by fungi.

The incidence of the diseases depends not only on the presence of pathogens but also on vineyard management practices and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and rainfall.

Though relatively quick results are obtained by chemical pesticides, the use of biological control methods is preferred particularly about 45 days before the harvest or during the berry development, for management of pests and diseases, to minimize pesticide residues.

Poor fruit quality

The losses due to anthracnose disease are to the tune of 15-30 per cent. The fungus attacks all green parts of vine shoots, leaves, tendrils, blossoms and berries. The affected berries results into loss of fruit quality and good market price.

Alternative method

The alternative method of using biological agents isolated and screened from grape rhizosphere was found to be an effective solution for the management of anthracnose, to the extent of 62.9 per cent in field conditions when sprayed with a consortium of aspergillus (PSFG), fluorescent pseudomonads (GPF) and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSBG).

Consortia of all these microbes can be sprayed in the form of liquid foliar spray at berry development stage in grape at 1:3 dilution (1 litre culture and 3 litres water).