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Department of Plant Pathology, ANGRAU-S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati-517 502.
A comprehensive roving survey was conducted during the kharif 2024 and rabi 2024–2025 seasons across seven districts of Andhra Pradesh to assess the severity of blast and seedling blight diseases in finger millet. The survey revealed that blast disease (mean PDI of Blast with 41.1%) was more prevalent and severe compared to seedling blight (mean PDI of Seedling blight with 18.7%). The highest blast incidence during kharif 2024 was recorded in YSR Kadapa district with a mean PDI of 63.2 per cent, followed by Satya Sai (61.0%) and Vizianagaram (55.0%). In rabi 2024–2025, Satya Sai district showed the highest mean PDI of 52.7 per cent, while Chittoor and Nandyal districts exhibited lower infection levels. Seedling blight incidence was comparatively lower, with a maximum mean PDI of 26 per cent in Satya Sai during kharif 2024 and 36 per cent in YSR Kadapa during rabi 2024–2025. A comparative analysis indicated that disease severity was higher during the kharif season, likely due to favourable environmental conditions. The findings underscore blast as the more dominant and damaging disease in finger millet, necessitating targeted disease management strategies.
KEYWORDS: Finger millet, blast, seedling blight, survey, Andhra Pradesh.