Studies on diseases of Naga King Chilli (Capsicum chinense Jacq.)

Capsicum chinense Jacq. locally known as Naga king chilli is one of the important spices of the Nagaland as well as pride for the state. The Naga King Chilli does not grow well in all areas and like any other cultivated crops, it does suffer from plant pathogenic diseases. Keeping in mind the above context, a disease survey was carried out during the Kharif season of 2014 and 2015 in three Naga King Chilli growing districts of Nagaland viz. Dimapur, Kohima, and Peren. During this investigation, seven plant pathogenic diseases were recorded viz. Anthracnose (Colletotrichum capsici), Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora capsici), damping-off (Rhizoctonia solani), Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum), stem rot (Sclerotium rolfsii), bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) and leaf veinal mottle (Chilli veinal mottle virus). Dimapur district was recorded with highest disease incidence of anthracnose (44.39%), Cercospora leaf spot (9.97%), damping-off (7.08%), Fusarium wilt (3.53%), stem rot (2.11%) and bacterial wilt (9.17%).