A survey on anthracnose disease intensity in major fruit stalls in Ninthavur Divisional Secretariat of Ampara District

Abstract

Anthracnose is one of the significant diseases in banana fruits, which is widely reported throughout Sri Lanka. The present study aimed to survey the prevalence and intensity of anthracnose of banana in major fruit stalls in Ninthavur Divisional Secretariat (DS) of the Ampara district. It was a cross-sectional study conducted from May to August 2020. A purposive sampling method was made to select the DS area in the Ampara district, and a random sampling approach was used to choose fruit stalls. About 80 fruit sellers were interviewed by using a pre-tested back-translated questionnaire. Simultaneously, the researcher carried out anthracnose disease intensity assessment for all the varieties by giving 0-4 scale scores. Results revealed that banana anthracnose is prevalence in varieties such as ’Puli kathali’ or ’Ambul kesel’, Kolikkoodu’, ’Etharai’ and ’Seeni kathali’ or ’Seeni kesel’ throughout the study area. In comparison, less anthracnose found in the variety ’Ambon’. There was a significant association (p=0.015) between means of keeping banana during transportation and anthracnose disease intensity for variety ’puli kathali’. However, anthracnose disease intensity of other varieties did not significantly associate each other. Further, ordinal regression analysis showed that disease intensity of varieties’ Puli kathali’, ’Seeni Kathali’ and ’Kolikkoodu’ were lesser than the disease intensity of variety ”Etharai” irrespective of the handling practices of the seller. It could conclude that varietal differences and improper handling practices during the transport significantly affect the prevalence and intensity of anthracnose disease in banana fruits in the Ampara district’s Ninthavur DS area