Screening of Maize Germplasm for M1ultiple Disease Resistance

Abstract

Maize is predominantly grown during kharif season in tropical and sub-tropical environments in an area of 6.4 million hectares and production of 11.47 million tonne~s is third important cereal crop in Indfa (Anonymous, 2001). The productivity in the country (1.8tJha) against 7.0 tlha in temperate areas and world average (3.8t1ha) is very low. Diseases such as Bacterial stalk rot (Erwinia chrysanthermi pv. Zeae), Maydis leaf blight (MLB), (Dreschslera maydis) and brown stripe downy mildew (BSDM) (Sclerophthora reyssiae pv. Zeae) are important bottlenecks causing significant reduction in grain yield (Sharma et al., 1993).