BANDED LEAF AND SHEATH BLIGHT OF MAIZE INCITED BY Rhizoctonia solanif.spsasakii AND ITS MANAGEMENT. A REVIEW

Globally maize (Zea mays L.) is the first and most important cereal crop grown under diverse environments unmatched by any other crop, as expansion of maize to new areas and environment still continues due to its range of plasticity.Maize has a wide adaptability to diverse agro-climatic conditions around the world. Maize was introduced to India in the beginning of 17 century. It is now one of the important crops in India occupying fifth place in area and third place in production. In India, maize is cultivated in an area of about 8.26 m.ha with the production of 19.73 million tonnes and productivity of 2295 kg ha (Centre for monitoring Indian economy report, 2009). Maize crop is attacked by number of fungal, bacterial and viral diseases out of which banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB) caused by Rhizoctonia solani f. spsasakii(Thanatephoruscucumeris) is considered as one of the most important disease and major constraint for low yields. In India the disease was first recorded in the Tarai (foot hill plain areas) region of Uttar Pradesh (Payak and Renfro, 1966). In early sixties, the disease was considered only as a disease of minor importance till it appeared in the epidemic form in the foot hill regions of Himalayas especially in the district of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Now banded leaf and sheath blight is considered as one of the major diseases of Maize (Payak and Sharma, 1985). In India it is known to be present in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Yield losses vary from 11 to 40 per cent (Singh and Sharma, 1976).