Influence of plant population in stalk disease incidence in corn growth during the off season - DOI: 10.4025/actasciagron.v28i4.896

Abstract

Although the off season corn area had almost a tenfold increase during the last 15 years, few studies about diseases were reported on this specific environment. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of plant population on corn stalk disease at the off season environment. The experiment was installed in Toledo/PR for two consecutive years (2004 and 2005). The design was a randomized complete block with 4 replications, on a factorial scheme with hybrid as the first factor (X1392D, 30F80, 30K75 and 30P70) and plant population as the second factor (45, 60 and 75 thousand plants ha^-1). The incidence of Stenocarpella sp., Fusarium sp., Colletotrichum graminicola, stalk lodging, root lodging, general stalk base diseases and yield were evaluated. The increased plant population showed a different increase in the stalk disease pattern through the hybrids and years tested, however it has not interfered with the yield in the same proportion.