Bacterial blight management practice adopted by farmers

The pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of the ancient and highly praised favorite fruit crops being native of Iran which stands first in area and production. India being the second largest producer of pomegranate has an area of 1.13 lakh ha with a production of 7.92 lakh tons. At present Maharashtra is the main pomegranate producing state (accounts for 78% of total area in India). Karnataka stands next to Maharashtra in pomegranate cultivation having 8,454 ha area with a production of 49,059 tons. Though there were no serious constraints in pomegranate production in India, very recently the problem of bacterial blight has an alarming effect on the production resulting in reduction of area under pomegranate. With this background the present investigation was undertaken with an objective to know the management practices adopted by the farmers to mitigate the bacterial blight problem in their field. The present investigation conducted in surrounding areas of Bijapur district of Karnataka State, revealed that the majority of fruit growers had medium to low level of adoption 52 and 38% respectively on overall adoption of bacterial blight manage¬ment practice in pomegranate. 100% of the farmers fully adopted the practices like application of Bordeaux mixture (1%) before pruning, burning of twigs and defoliated leaves and removal and burning of fruits showing by oily spots. The majority of farmers partially adopted the practices like season of cropping (hastabahar), spray of Ethrel (2.5 ml/L), removal of disease affected branches after pruning, giving sufficient rest to the plants and spraying 1% Bordeaux mixture during the rest period. The independent variables viz., age, education, media contact and extension contact was significantly correlated with the adoption behavior of pomegranate growers.