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Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops in
the world agricultural economy as food, feed and industrial products. It is a miracle C4 crop and has a very high yield potential.
There is no other cereal, which has such an immense potentiality and thus is rightly called queen of cereals. In India, maize
is grown in almost all the states. It is fourth in area (6.3 m ha), next to rice, wheat, and sorghum, but third in production
(10.8 mt). It is mainly utilized for direct human consumption and livestock/ poultry feed. During the last few years, there
has been a progressive escalation in its demand for the value-added products, like glucose, sorbitol, dextrose, starch-based
products and oil. The present productivity of the crop in India is 1.8 t/ha, which is quite low as compared to the yield levels
in other major maize growing countries of the world.
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Maize crop suffers from various diseases resulting
in considerable loss in yield. Among them banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB) on maize incited by Rhizoctonia solani f.sp.
sasakii Exner (Thanatephorus sasakii (Shirai) Tu & Kimbro), is gaining economic importance. It was reported for the first
time from Sri Lanka (Bertus, 1972) under the name Sclerotial disease. In India in early sixties the disease of minor importance
in the western central Himalayan foothill region. However, it became increasingly severe and assumed epidemic proportions
in the next two decades. Presently, the disease is considered as a major disease not only in India but also in several countries
of tropical Asia wherever maize is grown.
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