RHIZOCTONIA SOLANI OF POTATO AND ITS MANAGEMENT: A REVIEW

Abstract

Potatoes are an annual and the most cultivated tuberous crop worldwide. Potatoes play an important role to fulfil the world’s basic food requirements because of enriched nutrients and delicious taste. Rhizoctonia solani is the most virulent and widely distributed soil-borne fungus that causes severe yield losses of potatoes globally. Several management practices have been adopted to overcome the yield losses inflicted by this fungus. Biocontrol agents play a significant role as mycoparasites and activate defense mechanisms through disease resistance genes to suppress pathogens. Compost is also applied as a soil amendment that increases soil fertility through the addition of organic matter in soil and nutrients uptake in organic form. Besides, it is a rich source of carbon and nitrogen which can address soil erosion, nutrients and organic matter depletion issues and restores soil fertility by adding organic matter and reducing the incidence of soil-borne pathogens in the soil. Biochar utilization in the agriculture sector is increasing day by day because of its great potential for disease suppression. Both biochar and compost are used commercially to improve plant growth and suppress potato diseases caused by R. solani. Therefore, in this review, we discussed the symptoms on potatoes, epidemiology and biological characteristics of R. solani and summarized to date control strategies mainly focusing on biological, chemical, biochar and compost approaches.