Black bundle disease or late wilt, caused by Cephalosporium maydis, is one of the main economical and distributed maize diseases in Egypt (Samra et al. 1963).
To test whether the identified NLB QTL confer resistance to other important maize diseases, derived BC4F3 and BC4F4 NILs were evaluated at Aurora NY for anthracnose stalk rot (ASR) and common smut in 2007 and 2008, and for Stewart's wilt and common rust in 2008 and 2009.
A number of maize diseases caused by hemibiotrophic fungi (eg. gray leaf spot, anthracnose leaf blight, anthracnose stalk rot) and necrotrophic fungi (eg. southern leaf blight) are known to progress more rapidly on the plants after anthesis [ 18, 49, 80, 81].
In modern times, diseases associated with geminiviruses include maize streak disease and cassava mosaic disease in Africa; golden mosaic disease of beans in the Americas; tomato yellow leaf curl disease across much of the globe; and cotton leaf curl disease across India and Pakistan.
In science news around the world, Israel secures a spot in the Horizon 2020 funding program, a study linking genetically modified maize to disease in rats is retracted, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues a warning to genetic testing company 23andMe, and more.
C. heterostrophus (agamotype: B. maydis) causing a widely distributed maize fungal disease, southern leaf blight, belongs to Cochliobolus as well as C. lunatus (agamotype: C. lunata).
The pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis causes corn smut disease in maize.
