In vitro studies on various factors affecting growth of Exserohilum turcicum, causing Northern leaf blight disease of maize

Abstract

Exserohilum turcicum, causing Northern leaf blight of maize is one of the most devastating pathogen of maize. A number of factors like light, source of nutrition, temperature, moisture etc greatly influence the growth and metabolism of the fungus. The responsive behaviour of pathogenic fungi to various physical factors can be great use to study the pathogen and to counteract its growth by managing the physical conditions accordingly. The effect of different media, temperature, light and pH were examined to find the conditions conducive to the growth of Exserohilum turcicum. The study reveals that 25-300 C temperature is most favourable for mycelial growth of the fungus and maximum radial growth was found in Oat meal agar media. However, no fixed pattern of fungal growth under different light wavelengths and different media interactions was observed. The growth of fungus was maximum at pH 7 and minimum mycelial growth was observed at pH 5.