Reactions of six cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L.) to three fungal diseases

Abstract

Fungal diseases are the most important threat for rice production in the world. Rice fields were visited and sampled from diseased bushes to identify fungal diseases in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, in the south-west of Iran. Fungi were isolated from diseased tissues by Agar-plate method, and purified by single-spore or hyphal-tip methods. They were identified by studying morphological characteristics. The virulence of isolated fungi was evaluated on six dominant rice cultivars, Champa of temperate region, Champa of subtropical region, Gerdeh, Shamim, Fajr and Tarom, under greenhouse conditions. The experiment was set up in a factorial experiment in completely randomized design with four replicates. The incidence of three fungal diseases: brown spot caused by Curvularia australiensis and Bipolaris cookei, foot rot caused by Fusarium globosum and Fusarium sambucinum, and black root rot caused by Exserohilum pedicellatum, was proven in this study. Although, all of the tested cultivars significantly showed different reaction to these fungi, but the cultivars Champa of subtropical region and Tarom were resistant to foot rot as well as the black root rot and the cultivar Gerdeh was resistant to brown spot disease.