Management of sunflower powdery mildew through varieties and fungicides application in Debub Ari and Salamago districts of South Omo, Southern Ethiopia

Powdery mildew incited by Erysiphe cichoracearum is one of the vital diseases of sunflower causing significant yield losses. Thus, the study was conducted to evaluate fungicides ability interaction with sunflower varieties to decrease diseases epidemics of powdery mildew. Three fungicides (Propiconazole 25%EC, wettable shulpur 80% and Mancozeb 80%) and two sunflower varieties (Russian black and Local) were evaluated in randomized complete block design with factorial arrangement in three replication under field conditions. The present study depicted that improved Russian black variety treated with Propiconazole 25%EC two times reduced percent severity by 90.6% in comparison with untreated sunflower Local variety. And also, plots treated Russian black with wettable sulphur 80% two times reduced percent severity by 86.3% and Propiconazole 25%EC one times by 81.6% in comparison with untreated local variety. The highest yield from plots treated through propiconazole 25%EC two times with Russian black (2869.8 kg/ha), propiconazole one time (2781.0 kg/ha), Wettable Sulphur 80% two times Russian black variety 2841.3 kg/ha and 2834.9 kg/ha one time and two times respectively in Salamago district of South Omo Zone and closely similar trends were traced on Debub Ari district. The highest net returns from plots treated through Propiconazole 250EC one times with Russian black variety followed by Propiconazole 25EC two times with the same variety. Therefore, application of propiconazole 250EC with improved Russian black variety has been recommended to the farming communities for management of the powdery mildew of sunflower in study areas.