Abstract
Rice blast disease caused by Pyricularia oryzae Cavara is the most destructive rice disease worldwide. Among the disease management options, the use of a fungicide is suitable for immediate action and remained an exclusive management method in the continents like Africa where agricultural technologies are not well advanced. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of seven chemical fungicides viz., Amistar Xtra 280 SC, Artea 330 EC, Contaf Max 350 SC, Fungozeb 80 WP, Matco, Rex® Deo and Tilt 250 EC for the control of rice blast disease under field condition at Pawe, northwest Ethiopia. The result revealed that all the test fungicides have significantly suppressed the disease development with 11.1 – 51.5% suppression of panicle blast severity and 18.9 – 67% suppression of neck blast severity compared to the control (Untreated plot). However, Contaf Max 350 SC had superior disease reduction by more than 60% and gave the maximum grain yield (5617.06 kg ha-1) among the fungicides while the lowest yield was obtained from the control (4324.73 kg ha-1) followed by Artea 330 EC (4639.35 kg ha-1). Therefore, the present results suggest that twice application of Contaf Max 350 SC fungicide at 1 Lha-1 is effective for managing rice blast disease in Pawe and other places with a similar condition.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a major food crop that is staple for more than half of the world population; yields must be doubled by the 30 years to sustain the nutritional need of the ever-expanding global population (Nalley et al, 2016; Skamnioti and Gurr, 2009)
The lowest Panicle blast severity (PBS) was recorded on the plot treated with Contaf Max 350 SC (13.8%) and significantly different from that of recorded on the plot treated with the rest of test fungicides while the highest PBS was recorded on the untreated plot (29.3%) followed by Tilt 250 EC (25.7%)
Overall mean of the two-year data showed that fungicides were significantly varied for PBS and Neck blast severity (NBS) with the lowest severity recorded on the plot treated with Contaf Max 350 SC followed by Rex® Duo and Amistar Xtra 280 SC (Table 7)
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a major food crop that is staple for more than half of the world population; yields must be doubled by the 30 years to sustain the nutritional need of the ever-expanding global population (Nalley et al, 2016; Skamnioti and Gurr, 2009). Rice blast disease, caused by Pyricularia oryzae Cavara (teleomorph Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr), is one of the biotic factor and the most destructive of all rice diseases impeding rice production in more than 85 countries in the world (Katsantonis et al, 2017; Shahriar et al, 2020). Any reduction in rice blast disease would have a substantial contribution to food security and people's welfare. Management of rice blast has been extensively investigated, where different disease management strategies have been examined. These include biological control (using antagonistic Pseudomonas, Bacillus (Wei et al, 2020), Trichoderma harzianum (Chou et al, 2020) and Streptomyces spp. These include biological control (using antagonistic Pseudomonas, Bacillus (Wei et al, 2020), Trichoderma harzianum (Chou et al, 2020) and Streptomyces spp. (Law et al, 2017), host resistance (using disease-resistant cultivars), cultural control
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
