Turcicum leaf blight resistance in maize (Zea mays L.): Field screening of inbred lines under high altitude temperate conditions of Kashmir

Though maize (Zea mays L.) is a highly versatile crop and offers diverse uses as food, feed and an industrial raw material, its production is plagued by a number of constraints including diseases. Turcicum leaf blight (TLB) is one of the major diseases of maize (Zea mays L.) under temperate conditions of Kashmir. The present study involved evaluation of fifty inbred lines for resistance against TLB disease under artificially inoculated field conditions at Mountain Crop Research Station, Larnoo, during kharif 2015 and 2016. The disease severity ranged from 4.15 to 24.03 percent with mean of 13.83 percent before flowering where as it ranged from 8.05 to 63.80 per cent with the mean of 31.47 percent after flowering when pooled over the years. With respect to the disease severity after flowering, two inbred lines viz. VL102 and VL109545 only exhibited resistant reaction to Turcicum leaf blight. while, maize inbred lines viz. VL106, VL1020, VL1247, VL1010760, VL1018140, VL108855, VL108860, VL109081, VL109086, VL108853, CML360, KUI1141, KUI1411, NAI175, NAI217-1, V335, 208(D8), 209(D9), 214 (D14) and 325(D175) showed moderately resistant reaction. Thus, the identified resistant sources can be utilized as a source of resistance in hybrid breeding programmes in maize.