Management of Fusarium and Nemic Wilt of Eggplant

Eggplant or Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) belongs to the family Solanaceae, is a widely consumed nutritious vegetable in the world. Wilt diseases of eggplant have been treated as one of the major constrains for eggplant cultivation. Chemical control of wilt disease is very difficult and not environmentally sound. To avoid this problem, grafting of eggplant on the resistant rootstocks as an alternative, is being practiced in many countries. Organic soil amendment is another important ecofriendly approach for controlling soil borne pathogen by developing suppressiveness of soil. Bio-control agent like Trichoderma harzianum is reported to have great antagonistic effect against soil borne pathogens. Considering these scenario, to identify the ecofriendly components for management of Fusarium wilt and Nemic wilt of eggplant is an urgent demand. Considering the overall performance of the treatments applied in the experiment, application of Sawdust, Trichoderma harzianum T22, and Grafting of eggplant with wild Solanum (Solanum sisymbriifolium) could be used as eco-friendly approach and may be advised to the farmers for management of wilt diseases and profitable production of eggplant.