STATUS OF SLOW DECLINE DISEASE OF BLACK PEPPER AND APPROACHES OF DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Phytophthora foot rot and slow decline disease continue to be the major production constraints in black pepper. The status of these two diseases has been reviewed recently (Sarma et al., 1991; Ramana, 1991). Slow decline which was known earlier as slow wilt is considered as fungal nematodal complex coupled with mal-nutrition and moisture stress (Nambiar and Sarma, 1977). However the detailed investigations carried out in recent years have clearly brought out the major role played by the burrowing nematode, Radopholus similis and the root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita (Venkitesan, 1976; Ramana et al., 1987) and feeder root damage caused by phytophthora capsici (Anandaraj et al. 1991).