25 Mar Post flowering stalk rot disease of maize and its management practices
मक्का की फसल में फूल आने के बाद की तना गलन या सटॉकरोट बीमारी और उसके प्रबंधन की विधियॉं। Post flowering stalk rot (PFSR) of maize is an important disease in India. It is a ‘complex’ disease – as more than one pathogen is involved- caused by Fusarium verticillioides, Macrophomina phaseolina and Harpophora maydis. Yield loss is directly affected by premature plant death or by reduced kernel filling and lodging, resulting up to 100 percent loss. The disease symptoms manifest after flowering and gets severe under moisture stress/ high soil temperature conditions. Being soil borne, its transmission occurs through contaminated seeds, biological culture, infected crop residue and movement of agricultural equipmnts, therefore the use of IPM strategies for its management is crucial. Maize is the third most important food crops after rice and wheat in India. It is cultivated throughout the year almost in all the states of country for various purposes including grain, fodder, green cobs, sweet corn, pop corn, baby corn etc. Ubiquitous incidence of diseases in the pre-harvest stage is major factor adversely affecting productivity. Post flowering stalk rots of maize is a globally important destructive disease. In India, this disease appears in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, where there is scarcity of irrigation coupled...