Assessment of bioagents for the management of Fusarium wilt disease in banana

Banana is cultivated predominately as a sole crop and also as an intercrop in coconut,
rubber and spices-based cropping systems. Fusarium wilt of banana a lethal fungal disease
causing heavy yield loss to the growers. On-farm testing (OFT) on Fusarium wilt management
in banana with were evaluated and found that Trichoderma viride NRCB 1 soil treatment at 25
g/plant followed by soil application during 2, 4, 6 th month after planting recorded the less
incidence of Fusarium wilt disease (3%) followed by Pseudomoans fluorescens soil treatment at
2 nd , 4 th and 6 th month after planting (5.8%) with higher yield of 450 quintal/ hectare (q/ha) in
technology option 2 followed by 441.41 q/ha in technology option 1 and lowest in Farmers
practice 389q/ha. Front-line demonstration (FLD) was conducted with soil application of
Trichoderma viride and Paecilomyces lilacinus 25g / plant. The results revealed that in
demonstration plots recorded the 26.72 percent reduction in yellowing symptoms and 18.52
percent reduction in corm infection by Fusarium wilt and 15.99 percent reduction in nematode
root necrosis index. Demo plots recorded a higher yield of 315.10 q/ha whereas farmers' practice
recorded yield of 292.70 q/ha respectively which is 7.65 percent increase in the yield over
Farmer's practice with benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 2.36 in the demo field and 2.13 in farmers
practice