Prevalence of Disease Incidence and Mycoflora of Rhizosphere at Distinct Phenological Stages in Different Treatments of Okra in Hamelmalo, Eritrea

Abstract

Okra (Abelmoschus esculents L. Moench.) is a vegetable widely grown in Eritrea and cultivated in 514 ha of land with an average yield of 10t/ha. However, the production of this crop is highly affected by nematodes and other diseases. There is very less information on disease occurrence and soil mycoflora, hence, this research was carried out in the field of okra, in Hamelmalo Agricultural College, to identify the occurrence of diseases; percentage occurrence of disease incidence and identification of field mycoflora at various phenological stages of okra in various treatments such as control (T1), farm yard manure (T2), intercropping with a legume (T3) and chemical fertilizer (T4). This experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design. During the experiment, powdery mildew and blight were the main diseases that occurred, and diseases like damping off, wilt, and leaf spot were also observed. In addition to that various soil mycoflora were found including, two nematode predacious fungi Arthrobotris oligospora and Drechmeria sps. which were identified for the first time in the rhizosphere soils of okra, in Eritrea. The study revealed that the flowering stage was found significantly different at the incidence of powdery mildew but all growth stages of okra were non-significant at blights. Chemical fertilizer was found to be the best in cases of disease prevalence and intercropping was in cases of pests’ infestation. Based on the results of the current study it can be concluded that different phenological stages were found to be significantly influenced by all the treatments. But in T3 the cultivation which was with cowpea attracted the insect pests like African bollworms. However, the incidence of blight on all the treatments at different phonological stages was non-significant.