Chemical control of maize late wilt in the field

Abstract

Late wilt, a severe vascular disease of maize caused by the fungus Harpophora maydis, is characterized by relatively rapid wilting of maize plants before tasseling and until shortly before maturity. In Israel, the disease has become a major problem in recent years. The pathogen is currently controlled using cultivars of maize having reduced sensitivity. In an earlier work, we modified a molecular method for use as a diagnostic tool to evaluate disease progression in field-infested plants and showed that several fungicides suppressed H. maydis in vitro. Here, we examine the effect of different fungicides on disease progression in a contaminated maize field in the spring and summer of 2009 and 2010. The field was watered using a drip irrigation line for each row and the fungicides were injected directly into the drip line. One of the four fungicides tested, azoxystrobin, was highly effective compared with the control, inhibited the development of wilt symptoms and recovered cob yield by 100%. Although this is the first success in preventing disease symptoms in infested fields in Israel, the azoxystrobin treatment did not reduce the amounts of pathogen DNA in host tissues or delay its spread. Attempts to reduce concentrations of this fungicide or to apply it by spraying were less effective than the triple full dosage treatment. The presence of the pathogen in the host tissues of the successfully treated plants and its ability to undergo pathogenic variations are increasing the risk of pathogen resistance and the urgent need to develop new ways of controlling late wilt.