~ 2484 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2018; 6(5): 2484-2486 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2018; 6(5): 2484-2486 © 2018 IJCS Received: 06-07-2018 Accepted: 08-08-2018 Geeta Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, India DS Aswathanarayana Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, India MK Naik Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India Mallikarjun Kenganal Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, India Prakash H Kuchanur Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi, Karnataka, India Correspondence Geeta Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, India Survey for the severity of turcicum leaf blight of maize in major maize growing regions of North Eastern Karnataka Geeta, DS Aswathanarayana, MK Naik, Mallikarjun Kenganal and Prakash H Kuchanur Abstract Northern corn leaf blight or turcicum leaf blight caused by Exserohilum turcicum (Pass.) Leonard and Suggs is one of the important diseases affecting photosynthesis and yield. The survey results revealed that Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB) or turcicum leaf blight (TLB) was widely distributed in almost all surveyed areas. Survey indicated that, the disease was noticed in all the maize growing areas of the North Eastern Karnataka in a low to severe form. The results revealed that, the highest disease severity was noticed in fields of Choornoor (40.00%), Kottur (38.00%) and Sovenahalli (34.00%) Villages of Ballari district. Least TLB severity was observed in Banapur (2.00%) of Ballari district. TLB was more prevalent in Ballari district due to the continuous cultivation of maize and also receiving good rainfall during August and September months. Keywords: Maize, survey, disease severity, turcicum leaf blight Introduction Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important coarse cereal and is the third major crop in India after rice and wheat. It is cultivated in tropics, subtropics and temperate regions under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Large proportion of maize is used as poultry and cattle feed. Major maize growing states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab together contribute 60 percent of area and 70 percent of maize production in India. Nearly 90 percent of the total production of maize comes from kharif season covering an area to the extent of 86 percent. The irrigated ecosystem accounts for 60 percent area and more than 90 percent area is covered by hybrids. The major maize growing districts of the state are Davanagere, Haveri, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Shimoga, Bengaluru Rural, Ballari, Vijayapura, Chamarajnagar, Chitradurga, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Dharwad, Gadag, Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Mysore. Area under maize is increasing rapidly in the state because of congenial environment and availability of high yielding hybrids. Among the foliar diseases of maize, the turcicum leaf blight (TLB) also called as Northern corn leaf blight caused by Exserohilum turcicum (Pass) Leonard and Suggs. (syn. Helminthosporium turcicum Pass.) is having worldwide importance. The disease was first described by Passerini (1876) [10] from Italy and by Butler (1907) from India. Turcicum leaf blight is one of the most important foliar fungal disease affecting photosynthesis with severe reduction in grain yield of more than 50 percent (Raymundo and Hooker, 1981 and Perkins and Pederson, 1987) [13, 12] . Pant et al. (2001) [4] who reported about 91 percent reduction in the rate of photosynthesis when severity of TLB in maize exceeded 50 percent. In North Eastern Karnataka, maize cultivation is becoming popular in recent years and much information is available with respect of turcicum leaf blight. But, still survey of the disease in the area will give a definite idea about the disease status and distribution. It is necessary to conduct survey of the disease to get comprehensive information on disease distribution, level of severity, extent of spread and to locate hot spots for testing of genotypes in disease resistance programme. Material and Methods A roving survey for the severity of turcicum leaf blight of maize was conducted in different districts of North Eastern Karnataka.