Maize Genomics and Genetics 2015, Vol.6, No.1, 1-5
1
Research Report Open Access
Evaluation of Maize Hybrids Against Leaf Blight (
Helminthosporium maydis
and
H.
turcicum
) and Brown Spot Diseases (
Physoderma zea maydis
) of Maize under Mid
hills of North Western Himalayas
Jagdish Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar Salgotra
Department of Crop Improvement, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalay, Palampur (HP), 176062, India
Corresponding author email:
Maize Genomics and Genetics, 2015, Vol.6, No.1 doi:
10.5376/mgg.2015.06.0001
Received: 01 Apr., 2014
Accepted: 21 May, 2014
Published: 26 May, 2014
Copyright
©
2014 Izhar and Chakraborty, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Kumar J. and Salgotra S.K., 2015, Evaluation of maize hybrids against leaf blight
(Helminthosporium maydis
and
H. turcicum
) and brown spot diseases
(
Physoderma zea maydis
) of maize under mid hills of North Western Himalayas, Maize Genomics and Genetics, Vol.6, No.1 1
-
5 (doi:
10.5376/mgg.2015.06..0001
)
Abstract
A line×tester set was obtained by crossing 24 inbred lines with three testers in maize. Seventy two F1S along with twenty
seven parents and one standard check were evaluated for resistance against leaf blight and leaf spot diseases under natural epiphytotic
conditions at the experimental Farm of Seed Production Unit, CSKHPKV Palampur during Kharif 2004 and 2005. In total hundred
lines including hybrids, parents and standard check (72F1S, 27 Parents & 1 Standard Check) were evaluated against leaf blight
(
Helminthosporium maydis
and
H. turcicum
) and brown spot diseases (
Physoderma zea maydis
) of maize under field conditions only.
The ten cross combinations viz., Line-3×Early Composite, Line-5×Early Composite, Line-10×Early Composite, Line-13×Early
Composite, Line-15×Early Composite, Line-19×Early Composite, Line-18×Girija, Line-5×KH-2001, Line-18×KH-2001 and
Line-19×KH-2001 exhibited resistance for leaf blight and brown spot in both the years. Thus, these hybrids appear to be suitable
for cultivation in maize growing areas of Himachal Pradesh where blight and brown spot are the prominent diseases. Hence it was
concluded from the present study that the cross combinations Line-13×Early Composite and Line-19×KH-2001 showed resistance
against leaf blight and spot disease of maize with desirable high specific combining ability (SCA) effects for majority of traits under
studied in both the years. These hybrids should be involved in the crop improvement programmes.
Keywords
Zea ma
ys L.; Leaf blight; Brown spot diseases; North Western Himalayas
Introduction
Maize (
Zea mays L
) is third most important cereal
crop in the world, agricultural economy and is a rel-
evant source of food, feed and industrial products. In
India maize ranks fifth position in area and fourth in
production among the major cereals grown. Being a
C4 plant and having very high yield potential, it is
called queen of cereals. One of the main deterrents to
high grain yield in maize is its susceptibility to several
diseases.
Of 112 diseases of maize reported so far from dif-
ferent parts of the globe, 65 are known to occur in
India Maize (
Zea mays L
). It is grown from 58
0
N
latitude without interruption through the temperate,
subtropical and tropical regions of the world to 40
0
S
latitude, covering regions with rainfall varying from
250 to 1000 mm per annum (Hallauer and Miranda,
1988). Mainly, it is a crop of tropical and subtropical
areas but can be cultivated successfully under temperate
climate conditions, such as in dry temperate region of
Himachal Pradesh. Maize grains and stalk are used for
food, feed, fodder and even fuel. Apart from domestic
consumption, it also provides raw materials for the
production of several industrial products.
Maize (
Zea mays
L.) is one of the most important
Kharif
cereal crops 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, turcicum leaf blight & brown spot diseases are
widely prevalent indifferent maize growing areas of
the state. During the recent past the spread of different
