Analysis of Epidemics of Northern Leaf Blight on Sweet Corn in Israel

Abstract

Apparent infection rate (r) in the field varied from 0.05 to 0.20/day. There was a low correlation between temperatures and dew periods favorable for disease development and r in the field. A significant and high correlation was found between r and components of fitness measured in the growth chambers. A simple northern leaf blight simulator used to examine the influence of fitness of the pathogen on development of disease indicated that the importance of weather conditions decreases when fields are infected with a highly aggressive population of the pathogen