Disease assessment of different crops grown under protected cultivation in cold arid region of Ladakh, India

Ladakh region does not favour cultivation of crops due to the harsh physio-geographical conditions. In recent years, the protected cultivation has been used extensively to grow vegetable and fruit crops in this region. However, favourable climate for plant growth inside the poly house, also provide conducive environment for several plant pathogens. Thus, present study was undertaken to determine the disease incidence (DI) and disease severity (DS) in six different vegetable and fruit crops namely Cucumis sativus, Brassica oleracea var. botrytis, Capsicum annuum, Solanum lycopersicum, Luffa sp. and Fragaria spp. grown under protected cultivation in various areas of Ladakh. Results suggest that the DI for the studied crops did not show significant variation (F ≤ 2.7; p ≥ 0.15). Similarly, the DS among the study crops was also statistically indifferent among different protected cultivation sites studied in different areas of Ladakh region (p ≥ 0.08), except for Solanum lycopersicum (F = 6.1; p = 0.037). The highest DI recorded was 51.5 ± 5.5 in Solanum lycopersicum followed by 30.9 ± 5.2 in Brassica oleracea var. botrytis. Similarly, highest DS was 27.0 ± 3.1 observed in Solanum lycopersicum followed by 23.6 ± 4.8 in Brassica oleracea var. botrytis. The variation in DI and DS among the study crops was statistically significant (F ≥ 32.9; p < 0.0001; r 2 ≥ 0.93). To our information, present study is the first report of the quantitative damage done by various plant pathogens to some economically important crops grown under protective cultivation in Ladakh region of India. © 2018, Indian Phytopathological Society.