Vol. 11, Special Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
M Sumanth Kumar, V Prasanna Kumari, P Anil Kumar and T Madhumathi

Abstract:
Sorghum is a drought tolerant cereal which is globally cultivated and has been nourishing millions of people across the globe. However, losses in grain and fodder yield due to fungal diseases are becoming a major constraint for sorghum production. Of all the foliar pathogens infecting sorghum, turcicum leaf blight (TLB) has been a major threat to all crop stages, deteriorating photosynthetic area with consecutive grain losses. Due to rainfall irregularities and inadequate water availability sorghum cultivation is gradually becoming a climate change adaptation strategy in Guntur and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Hence, a roving survey was undertaken during the rabi 2018-19 to assess the TLB severity in six major sorghum mandals of these areas. The highest mean disease index was noticed in Markapuram mandal (35.14%) succeeded by Komarolu and Rajupalem mandals with the mean PDI of 28.26% and 27.78% respectively. However, the least PDI was recorded in Muppalla mandal (26.80%) followed by Santamagulur (27.01%) and Bapatla mandals (27.08%). Besides this, it was also observed that the Nested ANOVA carried out at two hierarchical levels confirmed the significant role of districts and mandals within districts on TLB disease severity.