Survey and incidence of rice sheath blight in major rice growing areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh

Rice is an important food grain and is a staple food for majority of the world’s population. Sheath blight (ShB), caused by the soilborne necrotrophic fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn, is an economically important disease in rice. A purposive disease survey was conducted during Kharif-2019 to assess the occurrence and spread of rice sheath blight disease in five districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The percent disease incidence (PDI) ranged from 20 to 80%. Maximum PDI (80) was noticed at paddy field of Sadalpura block (80%), while minimum (20) was recorded at Narayanpur, and Maudli villages. The maximum severity (9 scale) was observed at Sadalpura, Satahara, Naini, Cholapur. The disease was recorded from panicle initiation to grain hardening stage.