AN ASSESSMENT OF FUNGICIDE BENEFITS FOR THE CONTROL OF FUNGAL DISEASES OF PROCESSING TOMATOES IN NEW-YORK AND NEW-JERSEY

Concurrent studies on the benefits of fungicide use for control of fun gal diseases of processing tomatoes were conducted in New York and New Jersey in 1993 and 1994. Fungicides (chlorothalonil at 2.5 kg/ha or m ancozeb at 1.68 kg/ha) were applied at 7-, 10-, or I l-day intervals t o processing tomatoes for control of anthracnose caused by Colletotric hum coccodes, early blight caused by Alternaria solani, and Septoria l eaf spot caused by Septoria lycopersici. The New Jersey trial included an additional treatment using the disease-warning system TOM-CAST. Al l fungicide treatments significantly reduced foliar disease severity ( in New York) and anthracnose incidence (New York and New Jersey) in th e 2 years of study. Yield of usable fruit was significantly increased by all fungicide treatments with the exception of the TOM-CAST treatme nt using the cultivar Brigade in 1994 in New Jersey. In New York, usab le yield and financial benefit were consistently the highest in plots treated with chlorothalonil on a 7-day interval. In New Jersey, the hi ghest usable yields and the greatest financial benefits occurred in th e chlorothalonil 7- and 10-day interval treatments in 1993. At both lo cations, the yield and financial benefit associated with the fungicide treatments was primarily due to suppression of anthracnose and other fruit rots. Suppression of foliar diseases was less important.