Stalk rot of maize (Zea mays L.)

The plant material was collected in the municipality of Espinal, Veracruz, Mexico, showing symptoms of brown to black necrosis that spread in the part of the sheath originating from a stalk node of the corn plant. Due to the above, the objectives of the present work were: to identify the fungus causing corn stalk rot by morphological and molecular tests, and to evaluate the efficacy of chemical products for its control. For this purpose, isolations were made under laboratory conditions, and the isolates obtained were purified by monosporic cultures. The morphology of the isolates was performed in selective culture media CLA, SNA and PDA. DNA extraction was performed by Dellaporta Mini method, PCR amplification and sequencing was performed with ITS primers. Mycelial inhibition test was performed with the fungicides Thiabendazole (Tecto 60), Captan (Captan 50 PH), Mancozeb (Manzate) and Bacillus subtilis strain QST (Serenade).