Leaf Spot Disease of Brinjal: Epidemiological Aspects and Traditional Management in Manipur

Brinjal (Solanum melongena), one of the main vegetable crops grown in the home gardens of Manipur valley are affected by fungal pathogens. Home gardeners in Manipur valley used traditional and organic approaches for the management of diseases of home garden crops. The present study was undertaken to study the fungal diseases of brinjal and management practices followed by the home gardeners in Manipur valley and was carried out for two cropping seasons (F₁ – Feb. to June, 2011 and F₂ – Feb. to June, 2012) of brinjal in Imphal East district. Five different types of fungal diseases were recorded out of which leaf spot of brinjal caused by Alternaria melongenae was considered in this paper. Epidemiology of leaf spot of brinjal was found to be affected by meteorological parameters.Further, traditional approaches for the management of the disease reduce the disease progress to a large extent.