Abstracto
- 30% of cocoa production is lost by Phytophthora and in Colombia this is a limiting disease that causes losses of 23% in some regions. In order to determine the efficiency of the removal of diseased fruits and the application of fungicides and a resistance booster against Phytophthora palmivora, two experimental trials with clones susceptible to the disease (CCN51) and four treatments were established during a production cycle: TM (traditional management - occasional removal of diseased fruit), ICM-7, ICM- 14 and ICM-21, which included integrated crop management (ICM) and removal of diseased fruits every seven, fourteen and twenty-one days, respectively. The incidence was determined initially and periodically according to the time of removal of the fruits in each treatment and the diseased fruits were removed from the tree. The field experiment was established under a rcbd with sixteen replicates (trees) per treatment. Statistical analyzes were performed using Anava and the difference between treatments was estimated by Tukey (p ≤ 0.05). The economic analysis was carried out in order to estimate the net variation of each treatment in relation to the TM. In conclusion, the removal of diseased pods constitutes the basis of the management of Phytophthora palmivora in a susceptible clone such as CCN51, by allowing a 43.13% decrease in the incidence in IMC-7 in relation to IMC-2. The additive effect of the application of chemicalmolecules in IMC-14 was insufficient to reduce the production of infective inoculum in the same proportion as the weekly removal of diseased ears, generating losses of COP 369,041 ha-1 in relation to TM . ICM-7 was considered profitable as it generated profits of COP 834 384 ha-1 in relation to TM.
