Temporal progress of maize diseases

ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to evaluate the temporal progress of the diseases southern rust (Puccinia hpspolysorahps), Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora hpszeaehpsatn-atnmaydis), white spot (Pantoea hpsananatishps) and spot blotch (Exserohilum hpsturcicumhps) in corn, as well as their correlation with climate variables. Experimental design was in complete blocks with random treatments. The monomolecular model best fit to the epidemics. Using the severity data from each disease, correlations were established with the climate variables (DFtemp-favorable days with temperatures between 18-28 ºC; DFumid-favorable days with relative humidity>60%; PrecAcc-cumulative rainfall; PrecDia-precipitation/day, and Prec10- precipitation>10 mm) observed during the evaluation period. After analyses, it was possible to infer that the variable cumulative precipitation was determinant for the occurrence of epidemics of the studied diseases.