First report of Burkholderia glumae causing bacterial panicle blight on rice in Ecuador.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the leading crops and the basis of most diets in Ecuador and other countries. Diseases such as bacterial panicle blight (BPB), also known as seedling rot or grain rot, have the potential to threaten rice production worldwide. Burkholderia glumae, a causal agent of BPB, has severely affected the rice industry in many countries of Africa, Asia, and the Americas (1,2,4), but no report of this bacteria in Ecuador can be found in the literature. Rice plantations showing BPB-like symptoms including upright panicles with stained and vain grains were spotted in Palestina city, one of Ecuador's most extensive rice areas, in July 2013, but similar symptoms have been observed in the region since early 2012. Six symptomatic plants from two different groves were collected. Samples were plated on the semi-selective medium S-PG (KH2PO4 1.3 g, Na2HPO4 1.2 g, (NH4)2SO4 5 g, MgSO4·7H2O 0.25 g, Na2MoO4·2H2O 24 mg, EDTA-Fe 10 mg, L-cystine 10 μg, D-sorbitol 10 g, pheneticillin potassium 50 mg...