Author(s):

Muhammad Rafi Bawari, Abid Alockozai, Zakia Staneckzei and Gheyasuddin Ghanizada

Abstract: Wheat is one of the strategic cereal crops in Afghanistan in terms of the area of land allocated, volume produced and the number of farmers engaged in its production. However, the production and productivity of wheat is reduced by various biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic stresses, wheat yellow rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici, is the most feared wheat production bottlenecks. Field experiment was conducted to verify and evaluate the efficacy of fungicides against wheat yellow rust disease and recommend for registration. The trials was carried out at yellow rust hotspot location, Shisham Bagh research center during 2017-18 cropping season. Experimental design was randomized completely block, consisting of four fungicides with two numbers of applications, and three replicates. Treatments were: tebuconazole, trifoxystrobl + tebuconazole, thiophanate-methyle, propiconazole and a control treatment without fungicide application. Fungicides were applied at the phenological stage of: flowering when yellow rust was observed in field. Severity data were obtained based on percentage scores of leaf area with visible disease symptoms/signs according to Cobb’s diagrammatic scale. Fungicide spray treatments significantly reduced yellow rust disease severity to the lowest level possible over the no application. There is highly significant difference (p ≤ 5%) in grain yield and thousand kernel weight between fungicide treatments and nil application of fungicide. The highest grain yield was obtained from tebuconazole sprayed plots while the lowest from thiophanate methyle and no application. Fungicide treatments also revealed significant yield advantage than thiophanate methyle and untreated plots.

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