ABSTRACT
Onion downy mildew caused by tlid-translationPeronospora destructortlid-translation requires weekly spraying of fungicides for its control and, in order to reduce this number, the present study aimed to technically and economically evaluate a disease forecasting system and compare it with the conventional control system. A randomized block design with four replicates and four treatments was established in 2018 and 2019 in Rio do Sul City (Santa Catarina State, Brazil) with the onion cultivar Empasc 352 - Bola Precoce. For the conventional system, spraying started one week after transplanting and was weekly performed during the crop cycle with a treatment using protective fungicide and another treatment using systemic fungicide. For the forecasting system, spraying was performed after 30 days, adopting the system validated by Marcuzzo, when the disease severity value (DSV) reached twelve points and the same types of fungicides used in the conventional system for each treatment. The forecasting system had the protective fungicide reapplied when accumulated rainfall was 25mm. Area under the disease progress curve, final severity, disease progression rate and yield did not differ between treatments, but the reduction in the number of sprays for the protective fungicide in the forecasting system was 31% and 43% smaller than that in the weekly application system in 2018 and 2019, respectively, while such a reduction was 62% for the systemic fungicide in both years. The forecasting system allowed a reduction in the cost with systemic fungicide of R$ 3,000.00 and R$ 3,500.00/ha for the respective years, compared to the conventional system, while with the protective fungicide the cost reduction was R$ 210.00 and 480.00/ha for 2018 and 2019, respectively. The forecasting system has proven to be a viable tool for the management of onion downy mildew in Santa Catarina State, Brazil, and is available for the production chain at http://www.ciram.sc.gov.br/agroconnect/.
Keywords
Allium cepa; Peronospora destructor; integrated disease management
