Identification of Turcicum leaf blight resistant and drought tolerant inbred lines in maize
Abstract
Maize is one of the important food crops in the world after rice and wheat. Turcicum leaf blight (TLB) and moisture stress are the major biotic and abiotic stresses in southern India that can devastate maize production. Therefore, to develop maize hybrids resistant to Turcicum leaf blight and tolerance to drought stress, identifying parental lines possessing durable resistance to TLB besides showing tolerance to moisture stress is essential. To address this, we screened a set of 24 inbred lines for four years from 2019 to 2023 under artificial epiphytotic condition for Turcicum leaf blight resistance and a set 20 inbreds under moisture stress and non-stress conditions at four locations in rabi 2022-23. Two lines GI707 and GI751 manifested consistent resistance against Turcicum leaf blight in all four environments (years) compared with resistant check CI 4 and hence identified as resistant inbred lines. Similarly, we identified two lines GI 755 and GI 722 as drought tolerant as they performed exceptionally well in all four locations with higher mean grain yield under severe moisture stress condition with minimum yield reduction compared to that of drought tolerant check CML 580. These lines could potentially serve as parents in development of new maize hybrids suitable for rainfed ecosystem and also as donors for Turcicum leaf blight resistance.
