Research Regarding the Behavior of Corn Hybrids under Natural and Artificial Infection with Fusarium sp

In the context of climate change, the pressure exercised by pathogens can increase and otherwise resistant genotypes can become vulnerable to the attack of phytopathogens. Maize hybrids are created to be resistant against fusariosis, but under conditions of high infection pressure they may be sensitive to the attack of Fusarium sp. which leads to a lower quantity and quality of the yield. This paper presents a study on the behavior of corn hybrids under the Fusarium spp. attack in natural and artificial conditions of infection. In this context, artificial infections simulate a high pressure of infection. The biological material was represented by three maize hybrids Turda 322, Turda 344 and Marius TD. The experimental variants were: control (natural infection) and artificial infection through inoculation with 4 ml suspension and 8 ml suspension. Following this study, was determined that under conditions of high Fusarium sp. pressure, the frequency of the attack on corn cobs may increase, reaching up to about 90%, but the high pressure of infection and the climatic conditions in 2020 did not influence the intensity of the fusariosis. The yields obtained for the three maize hybrids were between 9.3 and 10.3 t/ha, with the highest value under conditions of low infection pressure (natural infection).