Misgana Mitiku¹, Yesuf Eshte¹, Wondewosen Shiferaw^1,

Maize is a staple food crop which plays a role in food security in . It is affected by many diseases that reduces yield. The majour control methods are chemical and cultural. However , such options are unsustainable to the smallholder resource poor. An experiment conducted on station in evaluated 12 improved maize varieties and one local check using Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications.The objective of the study was to select a maize variety or varieties resistant to northern leaf blight. The variety BH660 was highly resistant compare to the other tested varieties with the incidence of 13.7% and a grain yield of 3.7kg/plot. The variety BH543 was susceptible with the incidence of 52.3% and it gave grain yield of 3.4kg/plot.On the other hand BHQPY545 and local check were susceptible to northern leaf blight but their yields were 4.1kg/plot and 3.8kg/plot respectively. This indicates that the local check and BHQPY545 were able to tolerate high disease pressure. Therefore, the variety BHQPY545 is recommended for mid land maize production areas of South Omo zone.

resistance, northern leaf blight, disease incidence severity, yield