ABSTRACT
Tea is a long-duration crop and is prone to attack by several pests and pathogens that ultimately result in extensive annual crop loss (Mareeswaran et al., 2015), and inorganic chemical-based fertilizers have been applied over the last few decades to remedy this situation (Adesmoyee and Kloepper, 2009). Muraleedharan and Chen (1997) suggested the application of fungicides to control tea diseases such as blister blight, grey blight, brown blight and red rust, as well as diverse tea pests. However, the extensive use of chemical fertilizers has a harmful effect on soil health as the chemicals can destabilize soil fertility and thereby directly affect the native microbial populations present in soil (Kalia and Gosal, 2011).
