Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Crop diseases caused by fungi can devastate yields of staple and commercial crops.
Identifying the host crops associated with classic plant diseases is fundamental to plant protection and agronomy.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us match each plant disease in List-I with its primary host crop in List-II:
- (A) Tikka disease $\rightarrow$ (IV) Groundnut:
Tikka disease (early and late leaf spot) is the most common and destructive fungal disease of groundnut (*Arachis hypogaea*), caused by the fungi *Cercospora arachidicola* and *Cercosporidium personatum*.
- (B) Stripe rust $\rightarrow$ (III) Wheat:
Stripe rust (yellow rust) is a devastating biotrophic fungal disease of wheat (*Triticum aestivum*), caused by the pathogen *Puccinia striiformis* f. sp. *tritici*.
- (C) Neck blast $\rightarrow$ (I) Rice:
Blast is the most critical fungal disease of rice (*Oryza sativa*), caused by *Magnaporthe oryzae*. When it infects the neck of the panicle, it is called neck blast, causing the panicle to fall over and fail to fill grain.
- (D) Fusarium wilt $\rightarrow$ (II) Pigeonpea:
Wilt is a soil-borne vascular disease of pigeonpea (*Cajanus cajan*), caused by the fungal pathogen *Fusarium udum*, causing xylem clogging and plant wilting.
This results in the sequence: (A)-(IV), (B)-(III), (C)-(I), (D)-(II).
Step 3: Final Answer:
The correct matching sequence is (A) - (IV), (B) - (III), (C) - (I), (D) - (II).