Chemical control of bacterial leaf blight of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae

Bacterial leaf bligh (BLB) of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Uyeda & Ishiyama) is emerging as serious threat to worldwide Rice production including Pakistan and its control is becoming important. The present study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial activity of different broad spectrum antibiotics against the Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) isolates through in vitro assays. BLB diseased samples, collected from various rice growing areas of Punjab region (eastern Pakistan), were provided by Fungal and Bacterial Diseases group, NIAB Faisalabad. Behavior of five virulent Xoo isolates was checked against six antibiotics namely Benzylpenicillin, Ampicillin, Kanamycin, Streptomycin, Chloramphenicol and Sinobionic in four concentrations i.e 31.2, 62.5, 125 and 500. Benzylpenicillin was found the best for isolate no. 21.3 and 17.1, Amplicillin for isolate no. 16.5 and Kanamycin for isolate no. 77.2 and 2.6. The present study shows that antibiotics can effectively control BLB disease in vitro.