Post Flowering Stalk Rot Complex of Maize - Present Status and Future Prospects

Post flowering stalk rot complex is one of the most serious, destructive and widespread group of diseases in maize and yield losses range from 10 to 42% and can be as high as 100% in some areas. PFSR nature is often complex as a number of fungi (like Fusarium verticillioides cause Fusarium stalk rot, Macrophomina phaseolina cause charcoal rot, Harpophora maydis cause late wilt) are involved in causation of the diseases. To combat this problem, identification of quantitative trait loci for resistance to PFSR would facilitate the development of disease resistant maize hybrids. Moreover, various chemical and biological control methods have been developed but ma¬jor emphasis is on development of maize cultivars with genetic resistance to for environment friendly control of the Post flowering stalk rot complex. The current paper reviews the information on distribution, impact of the disease, symptoms, epidemiology, disease cycle; genetics of resistance and integrated disease management approaches has been enumerated to understand the present status of knowledge about PFSR complex and will try to focus on the future perspectives available to improve PFSR management.