The influence of certain eco-friendly treatments on the barley powdery mildew disease under the impact of climate change

Abstract

This investigation's goal is to assess the effectiveness of eco-friendly treatments, i.e., biocide Blight stop, three natural oil extracts: black seeds, thyme and eucalyptus oils, as well as fungicide Opus 12.5% Sc in reducing powdery mildew infection on susceptible Egyptian barley varieties. These treatments were carried out under greenhouse and field experiments conducted at Giza Experimental Station, Agricultural Research Centre (ARC), during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 growing seasons. All eco-friendly treatments and fungicide reduced disease severity percentage, area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) and average coefficient of infection (ACI) compared to the control treatment in the two seasons, in addition to increasing yield, total chlorophyll and carotenoids compared to the control treatment. Spraying fungicide Opus provided the most effective treatments, followed by biocide-Blight stop. On the other hand, thyme oil was recorded as having the least effectiveness in comparison to the control treatment during both seasons.