TITLE:
Influence of Planting Date on the Incidence and Severity of Leaf Spot Disease in Telfairia occidentalis Hook f.
AUTHORS:
Agyingi Lucy Ambang, Kebei Andrew Kpu, Mbong Grace Annih
KEYWORDS:
Leaf Spot, Planting Date, Season, Telfairia occidentalis
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
1,
2023
ABSTRACT: Telfairia occidentalis Hook f. is attacked by a destructive fungal pathogen Epicoccum sorghinum which causes leaf spot disease in the field. In Came-roon, this critically important seed and leaf vegetable is predominantly culti-vated under natural environmental conditions. An experiment was conducted in 2019 and 2020 during the long and short rainy seasons in Santchou to de-termine the influence of planting dates between seasons on the incidence and severity of leaf spot disease. The design used was a 2 by 4 factorial random-ized complete block design with three replications and four sowing dates. Data for disease incidence and severity documented fortnightly, were submitted to analysis of variance using SPSS version 23, and the means were separated by Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT) at a 95% confidence interval. Statistical analysis revealed that the long rainy season registered a significantly (p p