Genetic background and development stage of maize influence disease severity and yield loss due to maize lethal necrosis (MLN) and Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV)

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Abstract Nine inbred lines and nine hybrids of maize (Zea mays) were tested in an insect-free net-house in Naivasha, Kenya, by inoculating them with either maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) alone or together with sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), a combination that causes maize lethal necrosis, and the impact was assessed in terms of disease severity and grain yields. The effect of the combination was much more in plants inoculated while at the early growth stage: the disease severity scores were higher, the area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) was greater, and titres of MCMV were higher. Seeds from all the inoculated plants were contaminated with MCMV irrespective of the stage at which they had been inoculated and irrespective of their level of resistance. The study highlights the need to take proper prophylactic measures before sowing, such as using disease-free seeds or treated seeds to eliminate any possible contamination with MCMV at early growth stages, to lower the adverse impact of maize lethal necrosis in countries in which the disease is endemic. Also, genotypes susceptible to the disease need to be replaced with those resistant to it.

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