Physiopathological studies, stage of infection and management of Banded leaf and Sheath Blight of Maize

Banded leaf and sheath blight is one of the major constraints in realizing its potential yield particularly under changing climate scenario. Therefore, attempts were made to investigate the critical stage of infection of the host, management of the disease and the various physiopathological factors in vitro of Rhizoctonia solani f. sp. sasakii. The results showed that the pathogen differed culturally and morphologically both in the pathogen and sclerotia. Suitability to synthetic and semi-synthetic media in which PDA was found to be the best as solid and liquid resulted into maximum radial growth and sclerotia production. Optimum temperature for growth and sclerotial production was 28±1ºC with pH 7.0. Most critical stage for infection was 50 day after sowing where maximum % disease incidence was recorded under artificial inoculation. Seed treatment with chalk powder formulation of bioagents such as Trichoderma viride was more efficient in reducing the disease incidence as compared to T. harzianum.