Bacterial Blight Disease Research Articles

Feature Extraction and Classification of Plant Leaf Diseases Using Deep Learning Techniques

In India’s economy, agriculture has been the most significant contributor. Despite the fact that agriculture’s contribution is decreasing as the world’s population grows, it continues to be the most important source of employment with a little margin of difference. As a result, there is a pressing need to pick up the pace in order to achieve competitive, productive, diverse, and long-term agriculture. Plant disease misinterpretations can result in the incorrect application of pesticides, causing crop harm. As a result, early detection of infections is critical as well as cost-effective for farmers. To diagnose the disease at an earlier stage, appropriate segmentation of the diseased component from the leaf in an accurate manner is critical. However, due to the existence of noise in the digitally captured image, as well as variations in backdrop, shape, and brightness in sick photographs, effective recognition has become a difficult task. Leaf smut, Bacterial blight and Brown spot diseases are segmented and classified using diseased Apple (20), Cercospora (60), Rice (100), Grape (140), and wheat (180) leaf photos in the suggested work. In addition, a superior segmentation technique for the ROI from sick leaves with living backdrop is presented here. Textural features of the segmented ROI, such as 1st and 2nd order WPCA Features, are discovered after segmentation. This comprises 1st order textural features like kurtosis, skewness, mean and variance as well as 2nd procedure textural features like smoothness, energy, correlation, homogeneity, contrast, and entropy. Finally, the segmented region of interest’s textural features is fed into four different classifiers, with the Enhanced Deep Convolutional Neural Network proving to be the most precise, with a 96.1% accuracy.

First Report of New Bacterial Leaf Blight of Rice Caused by Pantoea ananatis in Southeast China.

In autumn 2020, leaf blight was observed on rice (Oryza sativa L., variety Zhongzao39, Yongyou9, Yongyou12, Yongyou15, Yongyou18, Yongyou1540, Zhongzheyou8, Jiafengyou2, Xiangliangyou900 and Jiyou351) in the fields of 17 towns in Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces, China. The disease incidence was 45%-60%. Initially, water-soaked, linear, light brown lesions emerged in the upper blades of the leaves, and then spread down to leaf margins, which ultimately caused leaf curling and blight during the booting-harvest stage (Fig. S1). The disease symptoms were assumed to be caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), the pathogen of rice bacterial blight. 63 isolates were obtained from the collected diseased leaves as previously described (Hou et al. 2020). All isolates showed circular, smooth-margined, yellow colonies when cultured on peptone sugar agar (PSA) medium for 24h at 28℃. The cells were all gram-negative and rod-shaped with three to six peritrichous flagella; positive for catalase, indole, glucose fermentation and citrate utilization, while negative for oxidase, alkaline, phenylalanine deaminase, urease, and nitrate reductase reactions. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis from the 6 isolates (FY43, JH31, JH99, TZ20, TZ39 and TZ68) revealed that the amplified fragments shared 98% similarity with Pantoea ananatis type strain LMG 2665T (GenBank JFZU01) (Table S3). To further verify P. ananatis identity of these isolates, fragments of three housekeeping genes including gyrB, leuS and rpoB from the 6 isolates were amplified and sequenced, which showed highest homology to LMG 2665T with a sequence similarity of 95%-100% (Table S3). Primers (Brady et al. 2008) and GenBank accession numbers of gene sequences from the 6 isolates are listed in Table S1 and Table S2. Phylogenetic analysis of gyrB, leuS and rpoB concatenated sequences indicated that the 6 isolates were clustered in a stable branch with P. ananatis (Fig. S2). Based on the above morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular data, the isolates are identified as P. ananatis. For pathogenicity tests, bacterial suspension at 108 CFU/mL was inoculated into flag leaves of rice (cv. Zhongzao39) at the late booting stage using clipping method. Water was used as a negative control. The clipped leaves displayed water-soaked lesions at 3 to 5 days after inoculation (DAI); then the lesion spread downward and turned light brown. At about 14 DAI, blight was shown with similar symptoms to those samples collected from the rice field of Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces (Fig. S1). In contrast, the control plants remained healthy and symptomless. The same P. ananatis was re-isolated in the inoculated rice plants, fulfilling Koch's postulates. In the past decade, P. ananatis has been reported to cause grain discoloration in Hangzhou, China (Yan et al. 2010) and induce leaf blight as a companion of Enterobacter asburiae in Sichuan province, China (Xue et al. 2020). Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. ananatis as the causative agent of rice leaf blight in southeast China. This study raises the alarm that the emerging rice bacterial leaf blight in southeast China might be caused by a new pathogen P. ananatis, instead of Xoo as traditionally assumed. Further, the differences of occurrence, spread and control between two rice bacterial leaf blight diseases caused by P. ananatis and Xoo, respectively need to be determined in the future.

Camera Radial Distance-Based Accuracy of a Bacterial Blight, Brown Spot, and Rice Blast Plant Disease Identification System for Remote Communications

Camera Radial Distance-Based Accuracy of a Bacterial Blight, Brown Spot, and Rice Blast Plant Disease Identification System for Remote Communications

Data Augmentation Techniques on Chilly Plants to Classify Healthy and Bacterial Blight Disease Leaves

Designing an automation system for the agriculture sector is difficult using machine learning approach. So many researchers proposed deep learning system which requires huge amount of data for training the system. The proposed system suggests that geometric transformations on the original dataset help the system to generate more images that can replicate the physical circumstances. This process is known as “Image Augmentation”. This enhancement of data helps the system to produce more accurate systems in terms of all metrics. In olden days when researchers work with machine learning techniques they used to implement traditional approaches which are a time consuming and expensive process. In deep learning, most of the operations are automatically taken care by the system. So, the proposed system applies neural style and to classify the images it uses the concept of transfer learning. The system utilizes the images available in the open source repository known as “Kaggle”, this majorly consists of images related to chilly, tomato and potato. But this system majorly focuses on chilly plants because it is most productive plant in the South Indian regions. Image augmentation creates new images in different scenarios using the existing images and by applying popular deep learning techniques. The model has chosen ResNet-50, which is a pre-trained model for transfer learning. The advantage of using pre-trained model lies in not to develop the model from scratch. This pre-trained model gives more accuracy with less number of epochs. The model has achieved an accuracy of “100%”.

Biocontrol of Rice Diseases by Microorganisms

Rice is responsible for the stable crop of 3 billion people worldwide, about half of Asian depends on it, and rice is grown in more than 100 countries. Rice diseases can lead to devastating economic loss by decreasing yield production, disturbing a stable food supply and demand chain. The most commonly used method to control rice disease is chemical control. However, misuse of chemical control can cause environmental pollution, residual toxicity, and the emergence of chemical-resistant pathogens, the deterioration of soil quality, and the destruction of biodiversity. In order to control rice diseases, research on alternative biocontrol is actively pursued including microorganism-oriented biocontrol agents. Microbial agents control plant disease through competition with and antibiotic effects and parasitism against plant pathogens. Microorganisms isolated from the rice rhizosphere are studied comprehensively as biocontrol agents against rice pathogens. Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., and Trichoderma sp. were reported to control rice diseases, such as blast, sheath blight, bacterial leaf blight, brown spot, and bakanae diseases. Here we reviewed the microorganisms that are studied as biocontrol agents against rice diseases.

Phenotypic Evaluation of Advanced Breeding Lines for Resistance against Bacterial Leaf Blight Disease in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Bacterial Leaf Blight disease epidemically damaged the rice crop. Absence of resistance against BLB disease in MTU1010 is one of the main reason for these epidemics. Thus, there is urgent need to search for resistant source and subsequently, their phenotypic evaluation to validate the resistant source. In this paper discussing about the highlights of phenotypic evaluation of Bacterial Leaf Blight resistance in MTU1010 NIL variety of rice. In the present study, fifty advanced breeding lines along with parents i.e., MTU1010 NIL X Akshayadhan NIL, were screened for bacterial leaf blight disease, Thirty-four breeding lines were shown resistance against bacterial leaf blight disease.

Phenotypic Screening of F4 Breeding Lines against Bacterial Blight Disease in Rice

Biotic stresses are major threat to rice production. Among biotic stresses, bacterial leaf blight is one of the major diseases affecting rice grain production in rice growing areas. Present investigation was conducted to evaluate phenotypic effect of 50 breeding lines from a cross (Pranahitha//ISM/MTU1010) in glass house at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jagtial by inoculating Bacterial leaf blight culture (DX-020) by leaf clipping method. Out of these 50 F4 lines evaluated, twenty nine breeding lines showed resistant reaction with disease score of 1. Eleven lines showed moderately resistant reaction with disease score 3. Twenty nine breeding lines that were resistant with disease score 1, had excellent grain yield. Hence, these lines can be advanced to further generations. Thus the present study has demonstrated that phenotypic selection is successful in the glass house and these breeding lines with higher yield levels are expected to perform better in the field trials and further in the farmers fields with the good level of bacterial blight resistance.

Identification and Fine-Mapping of a New Bacterial Blight Resistance Gene, Xa47(t), in G252, an Introgression Line of Yuanjiang Common Wild Rice (Oryza rufipogon).

Bacterial blight (BB) disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is a common, widespread, and highly devastating disease that affects rice yield. Breeding resistant cultivars is considered the most effective measure for controlling this disease. The introgression line G252 derived from Yuanjiang common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) was highly resistant to all tested strains, including C5, C9, PXO99, PB, T7147Y8, Hzhj19, YM1, YM187, YJdp-2, and YJws-2. To identify the BB resistance gene(s) of G252, we developed an F2 population from the cross between G252 and 02428. A linkage analysis was performed for the phenotype and genotype of the population. A segregation ratio of 3:1 was observed between the resistant and susceptible individuals in the F2 progeny, indicating a dominant resistance gene, Xa47(t), in G252. The resistance gene was mapped within an approximately 26.24-kb physical region on chromosome 11 between two InDel markers, R13I14 and 13rbq-71. Moreover, one InDel marker, Hxjy-1, co-segregated with Xa47(t). Three genes were predicted within the target region, including a promising candidate gene encoding a nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) protein (LOC_Os11g46200) by combining the structure and expression analysis. Physical mapping data suggested that Xa47(t) is a new broad-spectrum BB resistance gene without identified allelic genes.

Isolation and Identification of Antibacterial and Antifungal Compounds from Praxelis clematidea R. M. King & H. Robinson as an Effective Potential Treatment against Rice Pathogens

Bacterial leaf blight and blast diseases caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and the fungus Pyricularia oryzae, respectively, are among the most important infectious diseases affecting rice. We evaluated the antimicrobial effects of compounds derived from Praxelis clematidea on Xanthomonas oryzae and Pyricularia oryzae. The dried aerial parts of Praxelis clematidea were subjected to ethanol extraction, separated by solvent partitioning using hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and water. In vitro assays demonstrated that the main antibacterial and antifungal activities were distributed in the ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions, respectively. These fractions were further separated using silica gel chromatography and reversed-phase chromatography. Finally, we isolated five compounds, 1–5, that inhibited the growth of Xanthomonas oryzae in vitro and four compounds, 6–9, that exhibited in vitro antifungal activity against Pyricularia oryzae. We evaluated their antimicrobial activities and identified their chemical structures by NMR and mass spectrometry analyses. This is the first study to isolate compound 2 (4,4′,4″-nitrilotriphenol) as an alternative microbial from natural resources and evaluate its physiological activity. Moreover, this is the first report to demonstrate antibacterial activity in comparison with flavonoids. Praxelis clematidea extracts plausibly exert both antibacterial and antifungal effects, which should be further validated in field trials.

Genotypic and phenotypic dissection of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae on Indica rice cultivars for bacterial blight resistance

Aim: To evaluate the level of virulence of different Xoo isolates/ pathotypes of Eastern and North-eastern India and to identify the suitable donors in rice cultivars having various R-gene combination against virulent Xoo races of Bacterial Blight disease of rice. Methodology: Thirty six Xoo isolates were collected from different places of Eastern and North-eastern India and genetic diversity/ similarity was examined by genotyping of pathotypes using JEL1/JEL2 markers. The 34 Indica rice cultivars carrying different R-gene combination were selected and grown in net house and inoculated artificially with Xoo inoculants from these races/ isolates bacterial of blight disease. Results: The selected 36 Xoo isolates of Eastern and North-eastern India were grouped into seven different isolates/ races based on their genetic diversity using JEL1/JEL2 markers. Among 34 Indica rice cultivars, three or more R-gene combination (xa5 + xa13 + Xa21 and/or Xa4 + xa5 + xa13 + Xa21) cultivars exhibited highly resistant as compared to cultivars with single and double gene combination cultivars against most of the Xoo isolates/ races. Interpretation: The cultivars may determine different level of resistance due to complementary effect of inheritance of suitable R-gene combination. Identified donors may be used for rice resistance breeding programme for Eastern and North-eastern India.

Penggunaan Pestisida Biorasional untuk Pengendalian Penyakit Hawar Daun Bakteri pada Tanaman Padi

Bacterial leaf blight can cause rice loss between 15-80%. Biorational pesticides can be an alternative to controlling the disease. Bacillus firmus, Burkholderia sp, and Serratia marcescens against bacterial leaf blight on rice plants in the field. The study was conducted in Maret-Juni 2014 in the land of the Independent Farmers Group, Cipeuyeum Village, Haurwangi District, Cianjur Regency, West Java. The design uses a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 6 treatments and 4 replications. The treatments consist of: 1) Mekongga + biorational, 2) Inpari 14 + biorational, 3) Sintanur + biorasional, 4) Mekongga + without biorational, 5) Inpari 14 + without biorational, and 6) Sintanur + without biorational. The results of the study showed that the application of biorational pesticides can reduce the intensity of bacterial leaf blight disease. Sintanur varieties with the application of biorational pesticides produce higher and higher R / C ratios of 6.81 tons ha-1 and 2.79.

Recent Progress in Rice Broad-Spectrum Disease Resistance.

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world. However, stable rice production is constrained by various diseases, in particular rice blast, sheath blight, bacterial blight, and virus diseases. Breeding and cultivation of resistant rice varieties is the most effective method to control the infection of pathogens. Exploitation and utilization of the genetic determinants of broad-spectrum resistance represent a desired way to improve the resistance of susceptible rice varieties. Recently, researchers have focused on the identification of rice broad-spectrum disease resistance genes, which include R genes, defense-regulator genes, and quantitative trait loci (QTL) against two or more pathogen species or many isolates of the same pathogen species. The cloning of broad-spectrum disease resistance genes and understanding their underlying mechanisms not only provide new genetic resources for breeding broad-spectrum rice varieties, but also promote the development of new disease resistance breeding strategies, such as editing susceptibility and executor R genes. In this review, the most recent advances in the identification of broad-spectrum disease resistance genes in rice and their application in crop improvement through biotechnology approaches during the past 10 years are summarized.

Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticle Composites Using Calliblepharis fimbriata Aqueous Extract, Phytochemical Stimulation, and Controlling Bacterial Blight Disease in Rice

In this study, the biosynthesized silver nanoparticle composites (AgNPCs) obtained from the polysaccharide extract of the red alga Calliblepharis fimbriata were used to control the infection of Xan...

A new bacterial leaf blight disease of oat (Avena sativa) caused by Pantoea agglomerans in China

AbstractA new leaf blight disease of oat (Avena sativa) was observed in many oat fields in Huan county, Gansu Province of China, during 2018–2019. Typical symptoms appeared as yellow necrotic and water‐soaked lesions. The lesions developed from tip to base of leaves and eventually resulted in leaf withering. Disease incidence on plants (leaves) was approximately 36%–100%. A gram‐negative bacterium was isolated from the necrotic lesions of all samples. Coupled with multigene sequence (16S rRNA and gyrB gene) analyses, Biolog Gen III MicroStation, morphological, physiological, and biochemical characterization identified the pathogen as Pantoea agglomerans. Pathogenicity tests by wounding and injection inoculations in the greenhouse established that P. agglomerans could induce typical symptoms as observed in the field. The infection rate in leaves was 44%–71% after 14 days. In addition, host range tests showed that P. agglomerans could infect other plant hosts, including Sorghum sudanense, Medicago sativa, Fagopyrum esculentum, Setaria italica, and Zea mays. This is the first report of P. agglomerans causing bacterial leaf blight disease (LBD) on oat in China. The current study can provide a foundation for the prevention of this disease in the future.

SDR7-6, a short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase family protein, regulates light-dependent cell death and defence responses in rice.

Lesion mimic mutants resembling the hypersensitive response without pathogen attack are an ideal material to understand programmed cell death, the defence response, and the cross‐talk between defence response and development in plants. In this study, mic, a lesion mimic mutant from cultivar Yunyin treated with ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS), was screened. By map‐based cloning, a short‐chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase with an atypical active site HxxxK was isolated and designated as SDR7‐6. It functions as a homomultimer in rice and is localized at the endoplasmic reticulum. The lesion mimic phenotype of the mutant is light‐dependent. The mutant displayed an increased resistance response to bacterial blight, but reduced resistance to rice blast disease. The mutant and knockout lines showed increased reactive oxygen species, jasmonic acid content, antioxidant enzyme activity, and expression of pathogenicity‐related genes, while chlorophyll content was significantly reduced. The knockout lines showed significant reduction in grain size, seed setting rate, 1000‐grain weight, grain weight per plant, panicle length, and plant height. SDR7‐6 is a new lesion mimic gene that encodes a short‐chain alcohol dehydrogenase with atypical catalytic site. Disruption of SDR7‐6 led to cell death and had adverse effects on multiple agricultural characters. SDR7‐6 may act at the interface of the two defence pathways of bacterial blight and rice blast disease in rice.

The Holin-Endolysin Lysis System of the OP2-Like Phage X2 Infecting Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

Most endolysins of dsDNA phages are exported by a holin-dependent mechanism, while in some cases endolysins are exported via a holin-independent mechanism. However, it is still unclear whether the same endolysins can be exported by both holin-dependent and holin-independent mechanisms. This study investigated the lysis system of OP2-like phage X2 infecting Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, causing devastating bacterial leaf blight disease in rice. Based on bioinformatics and protein biochemistry methods, we show that phage X2 employs the classic "holin-endolysin" lysis system. The endolysin acts on the cell envelope and exhibits antibacterial effects in vitro, while the holin facilitates the release of the protein into the periplasm. We also characterized the role of the transmembrane domain (TMD) in the translocation of the endolysin across the inner membrane. We found that the TMD facilitated the translocation of the endolysin via the Sec secretion system. The holin increases the efficiency of protein release, leading to faster and more efficient lysis. Interestingly, in E. coli, the expression of either holin or endolysin with TMDs resulted in the formation of long rod shaped cells. We conclude that the TMD of X2-Lys plays a dual role: One is the transmembrane transport while the other is the inhibition of cell division, resulting in larger cells and thus in a higher number of released viruses per cell.

Foliar Application or Seed Priming of Cholic Acid-Glycine Conjugates can Mitigate/Prevent the Rice Bacterial Leaf Blight Disease via Activating Plant Defense Genes.

Xanthomonas Oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) causes bacterial blight and Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani) causes sheath blight in rice accounting for >75% of crop losses. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop strategies for the mitigation of these pathogen infections. In this study, we report the antimicrobial efficacy of Cholic Acid-Glycine Conjugates (CAGCs) against Xoo and R. solani. We show that CAGC C6 is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and is also able to degrade biofilms. The application of C6 did not hamper plant growth and showed minimal effect on the plant cell membranes. Exogenous application of C6 on pre-infection or post-infection of Xoo on rice susceptible genotype Taichung native (TN1) can mitigate the bacterial load and improve resistance through upregulation of plant defense genes. We further demonstrate that C6 can induce plant defense responses when seeds were primed with C6 CAGC. Therefore, this study demonstrates the potential of CAGCs as effective antimicrobials for crop protection that can be further explored for field applications.

Characterization of Streptomyces spp. from Rice Fields as a Potential Biocontrol Agent against Burkholderia glumae and Rice Plant Growth Promoter

The usage of plant growth-promoting (PGP) Streptomyces to improve plant growth is an alternative to existing strategies of chemical fertilizers that commonly caused environmental pollution. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize PGP Streptomyces from Malaysian rice fields with antagonistic activity against Bacterial Panicle Blight disease in rice caused by Burkholderia glumae. A total of 50 bacterial isolates were recovered from the soil, rhizosphere, and endosphere; 22% showed antagonistic activity against B. glumae. Molecular identification using 16S rRNA amplification and phylogenetic tree analyses revealed that the antagonistic isolates belonged to the genus Streptomyces. Among the antagonistic isolates, Streptomyces sp. TBS5 (26.35 ± 0.14 mm) demonstrated the most antagonistic activity (p < 0.05) against B. glumae. Through API® ZYM analysis, the antagonistic isolates were revealed to have phosphoric hydrolase, ester hydrolase, peptide hydrolase, and glycosidase activities that play a crucial role in plant growth promotion. The antagonistic isolates demonstrated the highest (80%) PGP traits including able to fix nitrogen and solubilize phosphate, as well as produce siderophore and indole-3-acetic acid. Plant growth promotion assay under laboratory and greenhouse conditions were analyzed with the treatment of rice, Oryza sativa, seeds with the antagonistic isolates. Seeds treated with Streptomyces sp. TBS5, JAS2, R2-7, and TKR8 showed improvement in vigor index by more than 100% compared to water-treated control plants under both conditions. Augmentation of root length showed an overall increment of more than 101.5% under laboratory condition and 151.9% under greenhouse condition using Streptomyces sp. TBS5, JAS2, R2-7, and TKR8 treatments. Results suggest that Streptomyces sp. TBS5, JAS2, R2-7, and TKR8 are a good candidate to be developed as both biocontrol agent against B. glumae and PGP agent in rice.

Development and Application of a Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay for the Detection of Pseudomonas syringae Pathovars pisi and syringae

Pseudomonas syringae causes bacterial blight (BB) disease worldwide on economically important fruit and vegetable crops including field pea (Pisum sativum L.). The two pathovars responsible for BB in field pea are Pseudomonas syringae pathovar pisi (Psp) and syringae (Pss). In the field, both pathovars cause indistinguishable symptoms on field pea and require laboratory diagnosis to determine the causal pathovar. To aid in-field and laboratory diagnosis, accurate, and robust loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays for Psp and Pss were developed. The assays were able to detect Psp or Pss on live or heat-killed bacterial cells, plant exudates, seeds, and DNA extracts with no inhibitory effects. The two specific LAMP assays developed detected Psp and Pss accurately in less than 20 min and no cross-reaction was observed with 18 strains of closely related species of Pseudomonas syringae. Compared to the conventional PCR assays, the two LAMP assays were equally specific but have advantages of producing quicker and visual live results, enabling early detection and differentiation of Psp and Pss. Our results suggested a potential use of LAMP assays for laboratory testing and can be applied for in-field surveys.

Improved bacterial leaf blight disease resistance in the major elite Vietnamese rice cultivar TBR225 via editing of the OsSWEET14 promoter.

TBR225 is one of the most popular commercial rice varieties in Northern Vietnam. However, this variety is highly susceptible to bacterial leaf blight (BLB), a disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) which can lead to important yield losses. OsSWEET14 belongs to the SWEET gene family that encodes sugar transporters. Together with other Clade III members, it behaves as a susceptibility (S) gene whose induction by Asian Xoo Transcription-Activator-Like Effectors (TALEs) is absolutely necessary for disease. In this study, we sought to introduce BLB resistance in the TBR225 elite variety. First, two Vietnamese Xoo strains were shown to up-regulate OsSWEET14 upon TBR225 infection. To investigate if this induction is connected with disease susceptibility, nine TBR225 mutant lines with mutations in the AvrXa7, PthXo3 or TalF TALEs DNA target sequences of the OsSWEET14 promoter were obtained using the CRISPR/Cas9 editing system. Genotyping analysis of T0 and T1 individuals showed that mutations were stably inherited. None of the examined agronomic traits of three transgene-free T2 edited lines were significantly different from those of wild-type TBR225. Importantly, one of these T2 lines, harboring the largest homozygous 6-bp deletion, displayed decreased OsSWEET14 expression as well as a significantly reduced susceptibility to a Vietnamese Xoo strains and complete resistance to another one. Our findings indicate that CRISPR/Cas9 editing conferred an improved BLB resistance to a Vietnamese commercial elite rice variety.