Abstract:
Field pea with other food legumes covers about 11.54% of the total 1.3 million hectares of
crop areas in Ethiopia and is the 3rd most important stable food legume among the
highland pulses in rural Ethiopia. Field Pea powdery mildew affects the field pea
production in the highland areas of Ethiopia and managing of it relies on planting resistant
cultivars and applying fungicides. The general objective of this study was to determine the
effect of integrated management of field pea powdery mildew, through host resistance and
fungicide applications, on disease epidemics, yield and yield components. The experiment
was conducted at Debre Brehan University Farm land and at Tare Maber District Debre
Meaza Administration Farmers Training Center farm land during the 2019 main season.
The experiment consisted of 16 treatments, viz. four field pea varieties combined with three
fungicides and control; in factorial arrangement. The experiment was laid out as
randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The highest (46.19
qt/ha) grain yield was recorded from the Burkitu and Adi (46.08) varieties; whereas the
lowest (36.51) grain yield per hectare were recorded from the local variety and improved
varieties had shown significance difference over local varieties. Out of four entries, Burkitu
and Adi varieties showed moderately resistant. Because of the per cent disease infection
values of Burkitu (19%) and Adi (19.5%) are grouped under 10.1-25% based on 0-5 scale
of powdery mildew disease scoring. On the other hand, Bursa showed moderately
susceptible and Local var. showed susceptible reaction to powdery mildew. Because the per
cent disease infection values of Bursa (49.5%) and Local var. (59.5) are grouped under the
scale 25.1-50% and 50.1-75 %, respectively. The highest (49.39) grain yield per hectare
was recorded from the Deficonazole25% EC spray; whereas the lowest (34.07) grain yield
per hectare was recorded on untreated treatments. Application of fungicide also has
significant reduction in per cent disease severity with maximum reduction in
Deficonazol25% (59.88%) and Tridemifon25% (52.03%). The maximum (ETB-114,272.6
ha-1
) net benefit also obtained from the Deficonazol25% EC fungicide. The minimum
(79,723.8 ETB ha-1) net benefit indicated from the control plot with the minimum (0%) of
marginal rate of return. Thus Deficonazole25%EC and Triadimefon25% WP spray were
recommended as they gave the best protection against Powdery mildew.
