COMPARING SEVERAL COMBINATION OF CONTROL MEASURES IN MANAGING THE COCOA BLACK POD DISEASE IN MALAYSIA
Authors: Albert Ling S. C., Darmesah G., Chong K. P. and Ho C. M.
Journal Issue: Malaysian Cocoa Journal, Volume 13(1)/2021
Keywords: Cocoa black pod, Phytophthora, phytosanitary, fungicide, pruning
Published On: 1/11/2021
Abstract
Black pod or Phytophthora pod rot is the most economically important and widespread disease of cocoa in Malaysia. It is vital to study the best combination of control measures in managing the cocoa black pod disease in Malaysia. Three important control measures to be considered in the study were pruning, phytosanitary of black pod removal and fungicide application. The study plot in the Cocoa Research and Development Center Madai, Sabah was laid in the randomized completely block design with four treatments and three replications in each treatment. Among the treatments applied in the study plot are treatment 1 (combination between pruning and phytosanitary of black pod removal), treatment 2 (combination between pruning, fungicide application and phytosanitary of black pod removal), treatment 3 (combination between fungicide application and phytosanitary of black pod removal) and treatment 4 (control). The results show that the weekly black pod incidence was varied significantly by the control measures taken in controlling the disease with integrated control between pruning, fungicide application and phytosanitary of black pod removal recorded the lowest black pod incidence in treatment 2 and followed by application of pruning and phytosanitary of black pod removal in treatment 1. The application of fungicide and phytosanitary of black pod removal in treatment 3 has less effective compared to integrated control measures in treatment 2. As a conclusion, the combination between pruning, fungicide application and phytosanitary of black pod removal was effectively controlled the black pod incidence and will be recommended to the cocoa growers.