Department of Plant Breeding, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004 (India).
Eighteen composites and hybrids of maize (Zea mays L.) were evaluated for two diseases, viz., maydis leaf blight [(Drechslera maydis (Drechsl.) Nisikado and Miyaiki)], brown stripe downy mildew (Sclerophthorn rayssiae var. zeae Payak and Renfro); and the insect pest, maize stalk borer, [(Chilo parrellus (Swinhoe)], under artificial epiphytotic/epidemic conditions to indentify materials having multiple resistance to these biotic stresses. Multiple resistance was measured on the basis of genotypic score and standard deviation for a genotype over the three stress factors. Four genotypes were resistant to maydis leaf blight and eight to brown stripe downy mildew, while one had a moderate level of resistance to the maize stalk borer. Three genotypes, viz, J 684 HSC3, J115 (Parbhat) and J 54 ZFS4 showed resistance to both the diseases. J115 (Parbhat) also had a comparatively higher level of uniform multiple resistance when diseases and maize borer were considered together. J115, in addition, possesses high yield potential and lodging resistance.
