Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus application on take-all fungal disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum l.)

A pot study was conducted to evaluate the effect of urea, ammonium sulfate, calcium nitrate and superphosphate on shoot dry weight of the infected wheat plants by Take-all disease. The experimental soil contained adequate amounts of nitrogen and zinc, but was poor in availability of iron, copper and mild phosphorus. The ammonium sulfate exhibited higher effect on Take-all disease suppression compared to other nitrogenous fertilizers which decreased the infected roots from 90 to 40%. Also, ammonium sulfate inhibited the symptoms to progress even in its lower doses which significantly improved the plant growth. The urea and calcium nitrate slightly decreased the appearance of disease but they didn’t improve plant growth. The superphosphate fertilizer reduced infected roots up to 50% in wheat. Suppression of disease symptom had linear correlation with quantity of applied phosphate. Furthermore, superphosphate fertilizer increased plant dry weight by two-folds. From this study, it is evident that proper plant nutrition management through ammonium sulphate and superphosphate fertilizers on need basis not only improved factors of plant growth, but also suppressed Take-all severity in infected plants of wheat. © 2020, Gaurav Society of Agricultural Research Information Centre. All rights reserved.