Correlated response for maydis leaf blight incidence in a maize population improved for brown stripe downy mildew resistance

An open-pollinated maize population 'Makki Safed 1' was subjected to two cycles of mass (both sexes) and one cycle of full-sib selection. The selection was primarily carried out for the resistance to brown stripe downy mildew, caused by Sclerophthora rayssiae var. zeae, the other traits kept in view being grain yield, height and standability. The improved population showed a remarkable improvement over the original for the reaction to brown stripe downy mildew, 1.5 against 4.5 on a 1 (good) to 5 (poor) scale. A correlated response for maydis leaf blight, caused by Helminthosporium maydis, was also observed. The ratings were 2.2 of the improved version against 3.2 of the original population (1-5 scale), under artificial inoculation, based on replicated trials conducted over two years.

A. S. Khehra, V. K. Saxena, S. C. Sharma, N. S. Malhi and S. S. Pal

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