Plant Disease Research

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important Kharif cereal crop of Himachal Pradesh. It is mainly used as food, feed and fodder in the state and is grown over a wide range of agro-climatic conditions. Diseases are an important constraint for maize production in the state. Among the various diseases of maize, banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB), Erwinia stalk rot (ESR), Turcicum leaf blight (TLB), Maydis leaf blight (MLB) and brown stripe downy mildew (BSDM) are widely prevalent in different maize growing areas of the state. During the recent past the spread of different maize hybrids in the state has increased the incidence of different diseases. During kharif 2010, 30 maize hybrids of various private companies and public sectors were evaluated against these diseases under artificial inoculation field conditions at three hot spot locations viz., Kangra for BSLB, Dhaulakuan for ESR and BSDM and Bajaura for MLB and TLB in order to identify disease resistant or tolerant hybrids. All the hybrids showed moderately susceptible to highly susceptible disease reaction to BSLB at Kangra, whereas they showed resistant to moderately susceptible disease reaction to both MLB and TLB at Bajaura. At Dhaulakuan, hybrids like PG 2465, P 3420, HiShell, PSC 3322, PG 2408, 900 M Gold, F₁ Corn Hybrid, DMH 1107, KHB 63 and DKC 7074 were observed resistant to BSDM, whereas hybrids HiShell and KHB 52 showed resistance to ESR. Two maize hybrids namely HiShell and KHB 52 were found resistant to ESR, BSDM, MLB, TLB and were moderately susceptible to BSLB.