Influence of foliar application of fungicides to control Phaeosphaeria leaf spot in maize

Resumo

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of foliar application of fungicides to control Phaeosphaeria leaf spot and consequently on the features of the maize crop productivity in the crop year 2014/15. The experimental design was randomized blocks, in a 2x4 factorial scheme, with two hybrids, three treatments + a control in four replications. The treatments were based on the following fungicides (g i.a L^-1): epoxiconazole + pyraclostrobin (333 + 167); cyproconazole + picoxystrobin (80 + 200); azoxystrobin + benzovinliflupyr (300 + 150), which were applied in BG7051H and BG7060HR hybrids with knapsack/ manual sprayer, pressurized with CO₂ in the phenological stage of culture V8, 70 days after seeding (70 DAS). The experimental plot had four rows spaced at 0.50 m and length of 10.0 m, resulting in a total area of 20 m² and useful area of 8 m², which held the white spot severity assessments, grain yield (kg ha^-1) and thousand grain weight (g). Significant differences were observed for all fungicides compared to the control. The control alone had the highest severity index compared to the other treatments. Regarding the thousand grain weight and productivity (kg ha^-1), the azoxystrobin + solatenol treatment was superior to the control and other treatments with fungicides, with a higher production of grain compared to the control.