Control of rice sheath blight by phyllosphere epiphytic microbial antagonists

Abstract

Epiphytic microorganisms on the phyllosphere of traditional and high-yielding rice varieties were isolated from different agroecological zones of Sri Lanka and screened for theirin vitro andin vivo antagonism againstRhizoctonia solani Kuhn AG-1 1A, the sheath blight pathogen of rice. Among a total of 196 bacterial and 91 fungal isolates, 12 bacterial and two fungal isolates which showed more than 50% growth inhibition ofR. solani were tested for theirin vivo antagonism. Among the 14 antagonists tested, six bacterial and one fungal isolate substantially reduced the incidence of sheath blight (by more than 82%) and severity (by more than 92%) of the rice varieties BG94-1 and IR8 grown in a pot experiment under open field conditions. Using five antagonists that showed the bestin vitro antagonism, a pot experiment was conducted to determine whether the presence of indigenous microflora on the rice sheath had any effect on the effectiveness of antagonism. Three isolates (B4, GbB5 and HMWB4) controlled sheath blight incidence and severity equally well in the presence and absence of indigenous microflora. Two isolates (BG352B1 and BG300B1) were more effective when they were introduced into the rice sheath without indigenous microflora. Among the effective antagonists determined by the pot experiment, isolates B4, B16, BG94-1B5, GbB5, HMWB4 and BG379-F2 were tested under field conditions for two consecutive growing seasons. Under field conditions, severity of rice sheath blight was significantly reduced by the application of all the tested antagonists as a spray on rice sheath at a concentration of 108 cfu ml−1, starting 3 days after the development of symptoms and continuing for three applications at 10-day intervals. Antagonistic performances were consistent in the two seasons under field conditions andB. megatarium A (isolate B16) andAspergillus niger (isolate BG379-F2) performed as the most effective antagonists in both seasons. When disease severity was quantified as percentage sheath area covered by the disease lesions, the respective reductions in disease severity were greater than 50% and 61% byB. megaterium A (isolate B16) andAspergillus niger (isolate BG379-F2), respectively, in both seasons.