Özet:

Forming galls (tumor) on different aboveground parts of maize plants, Ustilago maydis (DC) Corda can cause significant damage to the host. As applying fungicide against U. maydis is not feasible yet, using resistant or tolerant maize cultivars is very important for management of the smut. In this regard, a 2-year- field study was conducted to determine responses of some cultivars belonging to different maize variety groups to the smut disease. Inoculations were performed by injecting inoculum into apical node of the plants, 40-60 cm high, and ear silks in plots. Of all the maize cultivars tested, no resistant variety was detected. However, sweet corn varieties (Vega and Merit) were found to be tolerant to the smut disease. It was also detected that Dent corn cultivars (Pioneer-3394, Side), flint corn variety (Karadeniz Yıldızı), and popcorn variety (Antcin-98) all were susceptible, whereas, dent corn (Ada-523) and flint corn varieties (Karaçay) were very susceptible to the disease. Mean disease severity and incidence of the cultivars varied from 0.4 to 8.4 and from 16.6% to 74.1%, respectively.

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