Holistic approach to managing white mold in beans: combating sclerotinia sclerotiorum

White mold caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) is one of the important diseases of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The present study on “Holistic Approach to Managing white Mold in Beans: Combating Sclerotinia sclerotiorum” was conducted during kharif 2017. The pathogenicity of the isolated fungus was established by proving Koch’s postulates. Studies were conducted in a field experiment on integrated disease management of white mold of beans using Trichoderma harzianum both as seed treatment and foliar spray, fungicides captan + hexaconazole, mancozeb + carbendazim, and potassium fertilizer (MOP) @ 50, 60 and 70 kg K ha-1 . The studies revealed that seed treatment with Trichoderma harzianum @ 10 ml kg-1 of seed + 1st foliar spray with (captan 70% + hexaconazole 5%) @ 0.05% + 2nd foliar spray with (mancozeb 63% + carbendazim 12%) @ 0.25% proved most effective treatment exhibiting a disease incidence, intensity and pod yield of 18.27%, 11.72% and 107.8 q ha-1, respectively. Compared to this, highest disease incidence and intensity of 37.65% and 27.34%, respectively and lowest pod yield of 63.24 q ha-1 were recorded in case of control. Among the different potassium levels tested, potassium @ 70 kg ha-1 proved most effective with lowest white mold incidence (18.93%), intensity (12.25%) and highest pod yield of 98.64 q ha-1. A holistic approach provides sustainable management of white mold in beans but faces challenges in pathogen biology, environmental influence, limited host resistance, variability in biocontrol success, and adoption barriers. Addressing these challenges needs advanced research, multi-location trials, and farmer-friendly integrated strategies.