Eco-Friendly Management of Maydis Leaf Blight (Bipolaris maydis) (Nisikado and Miyake) Shoemaker of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

Maydis leaf blight is the destructive foliar fungal disease causes considerable losses in maize crop. Disease appears as young small and diamond shaped lesions, as they mature, they elongate. The present investigation was carried out in kharif season in the year 2023-2024 under field conditions. Eight treatments were tested against maydis leaf light viz. Trichoderma viride @ 5g/ha (ST) + Turmeric rhizome extract @ 10% (FS), T. viride @ 5g/ha (ST) + Garlic clove extract @ 10% (FS), T. viride @ 5g/ha (ST) + Neem leaf extract @ 10% (FS), T. viride @ 5g/ha (ST) + Eucalyptus leaf extract @ 10% (FS), T. viride @ 5g/ha (ST) + Tulsi leaf extract @ 10% (FS), T. viride @ 5g/ha (ST) + Datura leaf extract @ 10% (FS), Propiconazole 25 EC @ 0.1% as treated check and untreated control in Randomize Block Design with three replications. Among all the treatments minimum disease intensity (%) was recorded in treatment T. viride @ 5g/kg + Garlic clove extract @ 10% (26.98%) followed by T. viride @ 5g/kg + Neem leaf extract @ 10% (28.90%), T. viride @ 5g/kg +Datura leaf extract @ 10% (31.44%), T. viride @ 5g/kg + Turmeric rhizome extract @ 10% (34.32%), T. viride @ 5g/kg + Eucalyptus leaf extract @ 10% (37.88), T. viride @ 5g/kg + Tulsi leaf extract @ 10% (38.90%) as compared to control and maximum plant height (cm) (168.40), number of leaves (19.46), cob length (cm) (18.92cm), yield (t/ha) (4.25t/ha) and cost benefit ratio (1:2.4) was recorded in treatment T. viride @ 5g/kg + Garlic clove extract @ 10% compared to control.