NAGESHA, N.ADARSHA, D. P.2020-10-062020-10-062019-08-29Th-12441https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810152470Maize (Zea mays L.) is the world’s third most important cereal crop including India. Turcicum leaf blight (Exserohilum turcicum) commonly referred to as Northern leaf blight is one of the major fungal diseases of maize causing significant yield loss. In the present investigation, twenty-three maize genotypes were screened for resistance against Turcicum leaf blight under artificial epiphytotic condition. Out of twenty-three genotypes, nine genotypes were showed as resistant and eight genotypes were showed as susceptible genotypes. Expression of two antifungal genes chitinase and glucanase were screened for twenty-one genotypes through semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The relative expression pattern of these two antifungal genes before and after the pathogen infection showed that the expression of these genes was more of genotype-dependent than pathogen and there are multiple factors which induce expression of these anti-fungal genes. Micropropagation of the maize for direct regeneration was done using nodal explants from the maize coleoptiles. Three Turcicum leaf blight susceptible maize genotypes (NAI179, NAI193, and HKI413) were used for micropropagation studies. MS media with different combinations of growth regulators were used to induce shoots and roots. The best responding explants for the shooting was recorded in NAI179 on MS + 1.5 mgL-1 BAP media. Fastest responding genotype was found to be HKI413 on MS + 0.5 mgL-1 BAP media. The maximum number of shoots were recorded in NAI179 on 1.5 MS + mgL-1 BAP media and maximum shoot elongation was seen in NAI193 on MS + 2.5 mgL-1 BAP + 0.5 mgL-1 IBA. The best response for rooting was observed in NAI179 on MS + 0.5 mgL-1 BAP + 2.0 mgL-1 NAA media.EnglishThesis