SEVERITY OF RAMULARIA LEAF SPOT AND SEED COTTON YIELD IN DIFFERENT SOWING TIMES

ABSTRACT The ramularia leaf spot (RLS) disease causes cotton yield losses. Choosing a less susceptible cultivar and a sowing time that are less favorable to the pathogen contribute to the management of this disease. The objective of this work was to evaluate the severity of ramularia leaf spot on cotton cultivars sowed in two different times. The experiment was conducted in a triple factorial design (4x3x2), consisted of four cultivars, the three thirds of the plant and two sowing times, with four replications. Each plot was divided in two twin plots, one with fungicide application (with disease control) and the other without fungicide application (without disease control). The severity assessments were performed every seven days, considering each third of the plant with a diagrammatic scale. Yield was evaluated in each plot. There was a significant interaction between sowing times and the thirds of the plant in the plots without disease control for RLS severity, with the highest values of area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) in the first sowing time (ST1) and in the lower third of the plant. The FMT705 cultivar had the highest and FM951LL the lowest value of AUDPC. The AUDPC of these cultivars were no statistically different in the second sowing time (ST2), but they had higher AUDPC values in the lower third. Highest yields were found with ST1 in plots with disease control, with no differences between the cultivars, however, lower yields were found in plots without disease control.