Pathological Survey on Disease Incidence and Severity of Major Diseases on Tomato and Chilli Crops Grown in Sub Zoba Hamelmalo, Eritrea

This survey has been conducted to observe the disease incidence and severity on the major vegetables like tomato and chilli, cultivated in sub zoba Hamelmalo during two different seasons i.e. autumn (Qewi) and winter (Hagay). The surveyed areas were Wazntet, Awrari, Basheri, Genfelom and Hamelmalo by selecting two farms from each village. The crops were affected by different diseases such as early blight, late blight, powdery mildew, wilt, blossom end rot and leaf curl in tomato and damping off, leaf curl, bacterial leaf spot in chilies. The symptoms have been observed and compared the disease incidence and severity among the selected farms of the villages, occurred throughout the various phenological stages of the plants. The present survey revealed that there was no any significant difference between the surveyed areas, based on the diseases incidence and severity which is calculated at that particular time. Percentage of disease incidence and severity of tomato was higher in Basheri and Awrari, while the both disease intensities of chillies were recorded maximum during Qewi season in Basheri and Genfelom. In tomato and chillies, the percentage of disease incidence showed more than 77% in all villages during Hagay season but the severity was observed between 20 and 60%. The reasons for those results are low educational level, no proper irrigation, unavailability of fertilizers and lack of chemicals for controlling the diseases