Management of Wilt Complex in Brinjal

Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is also known as egg plant belongs to the family Solanaceae. It is one of the most popular and principal vegetable crops grown in India and other parts of the world. Besides its use as a fresh vegetable, brinjal has a good medicinal value. It is rich source of vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, vitamin-C and mineral elements like iron, calcium and phosphorus. Brinjal is a warm weather plant that requires 100-140 days from seedling stage to produce fruits. Eggplants grow best at a day temperature 25.50 C and night temperature 200C. The crop is grown widely in tropical and subtropics, with a world production of 34,485,056 MT from an area of around 2,044,803 hectares (Anon., 2010). In India, it occupies an area of about 680, 000 hectares producing over 11896.0 MT of fruits. In Karnataka, it occupies an area of 14,200 hectares with production of 8.1 MT (Anon., 2010).