Management of important maize diseases of central western zone in India

Abstract

Post-Flowering Stalk Rot (PFSR), Curvularia Leaf Spot (CLS) and Cyst Nematode (CN) are major threats of maize in the Central Western Zone of India particularly in Rajasthan. A field study was conducted to evaluate the effective component to manage these threats. A total of six and seven treatments were applied for management of Post-flowering stalk rot (PFSR) and Curvularia leaf spot (CLS) diseases including fungicides, bio-agents and botanicals respectively. In case of PFSR, Out of six treatments, bioagent Trichoderma viride in 100 Kg FYM was found most effective with 78.34% disease control followed by, Propiconazole @ 0.1% spray at 40 days (77.89% disease control). In case of CLS, seed treatment with fungicides combination of Carbendazim +Mancozeb @0.25% as well as spray at 45 and 65 DAS @ 0.2% found most effective with 70.0% disease control followed by, Alliete ST @4g/Kg seed and FS at 45 and 60 DAS @ 0.2% (68.0% disease control).To manage the cyst nematode, four biocontrol agent with different concentration were applied as seed treatment. Out of these, bioagent Glomus fasciculatum 4% w/w showed maximum reduction (51.33 %) in females/5g root and Cyst/100cc soil (49.32%) followed by Metarrhizium anisopliae 4% w/w (41.59 % reduction in females/5g root and 41.32 % reduction in Cyst/100cc) . These effective components can be validated and used as effective management strategies of mentioned threats.