Integrated control of sheath blight and banded leaf in maize in Madhya Pradesh's Kymore plateau and Satpura Hills Agricultural Zones

The comparative effectiveness of integrated management strategies proved to be highly persuasive for farmers. It became evident that all three tested treatments significantly outperformed the existing farmer practices (T1). Treatment-4 (T4), which included a tolerant hybrid variety combined with soil treatment using Trichoderma viridi at 5 kg in 50 kg of enriched vermicompost, seed treatment with Vitavax Power (Carboxin 37.5% + Thiram 37.5%) at 3 g/kg of seed, the removal of lower leaves along with their sheaths, and a foliar spray of Azoxystrobin 18.2% and Difenconazole 11.4% w/w SC (Amistar Top 325 SC) at a rate of 1 ml/L of water at 50 days after sowing or immediately following the appearance of symptoms, was found to be the most effective in reducing the incidence of BLSB by 63.10%, based on an average across three crop seasons. The yield increases to 26.04% and a net return of Rs. 1917.10 for T4 were particularly favorable and encouraging. Treatment-3 emerged as the second most effective option. The treatments enhanced production without imposing significant input costs on farmers, as demonstrated by the cost-benefit analysis conducted in this study. Therefore, it can be concluded that T4 should be regarded as a viable sustainable practice for managing BLSB in maize.