Assessment of fungal diseases on corn under various farming cultural practices
Paper Details
Assessment of fungal diseases on corn under various farming cultural practices
Abstract
A study was conducted to assess the fungal diseases of corn under various management practices. The study was laid out in split-split plot arrangement in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with fertilizer treatments as the main plot. The hedgerow pruning treatments represented the sub-plot while mulching treatments were assigned to represent the sub-subplot. Findings show that the three common fungal diseases infecting corn include corn rust, Stenocarpella leaf blight and Physoderma brown spot. For corn rust, all the treatments were categorized as susceptible. Those applied with biofertilizer had the lowest rust infection with 66.20% and 65.78% for the first and second cropping period, respectively. Host reaction for Stenocarpella leaf blight among the treatments was categorized as moderately resistant. Similarly, those applied with biofertilizer had the lowest mean percent severity of 2.12% for the first cropping and 13.18% for the second cropping period. As for Physoderma brown spot, host reaction was categorized as resistant to the disease in the first cropping while this was absent in the second cropping period. The treatment without fertilizer application had the highest severity rating of Physoderma brown spot. In terms of hedgerow pruning and mulching practices, no significant difference was noted among the treatments. However, general findings revealed that the treatment with biofertilizer application showed the lowest mean percent severity of the three fungal diseases identified on the alley crop. These findings could be attributed to the beneficial effects of biofertilizer to resist pest and diseases when applied to crops.
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