@article{Hegde_2020, title={Integrated management of pod rot disease of cocoa in hilly tracts of Karnataka}, volume={48}, url={https://updatepublishing.com/journal/index.php/JPC/article/view/6213}, DOI={10.25081/jpc.2020.v48.i1.6213}, abstractNote={<p>Cocoa suffers heavily due to pod rot disease caused by <em>Phytophthora palmivora,</em> causing yield losses ranging from 30 to 60 per cent. For devising strategies for effective management of pod rot disease, the present study was conducted during <em>Kharif</em> seasons of 2012-13 and 2013-14 in farmer’s field in the hilly tracts of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka State, India. The results revealed that sequential spray of Metalaxyl MZ 68WP at 0.2 per cent followed by 1 per cent <em>Pseudomonas fluorescens</em> at 15 days interval significantly reduced the severity of pod rot disease (20.1%) in cocoa. This was followed by spraying of Mancozeb at 0.25 per cent + <em>P. fluorescens</em> at 1 per cent and spraying of Bordeaux mixture (1%) + <em>P. fluorescens</em> at 1 per cent. The reduction in disease severity has reflected in increased crop yield. The plots sprayed with Metalaxyl MZ 68WP + <em>P. fluorescens</em> has recorded the highest yield of 518.2 kg of dry beans ha-1 followed by 436.2 and 433.6 kg ha-1, respectively, in Mancozeb + <em>P. fluorescens </em>and Bordeaux mixture +<em> P. fluorescens</em>. The maximum disease severity was recorded in untreated control plots (46.2%) with a minimum yield of 337.3 kg ha-1. The highest net return of <strong>`</strong> 62,007 was recorded in plots sprayed with Metalaxyl MZ 68WP + <em>P. fluorescens</em> sprayed plots. Thus, the integration of chemicals with a biological control agent was found to be promising not only in the management of pod rot disease but also in obtaining higher net returns in cocoa.</p>}, number={1}, journal={Journal of Plantation Crops}, author={Hegde, Gurudatt M.}, year={2020}, month={Apr.}, pages={21–26} }