In vitro evaluation of different fungicides against Fusarium moniliforme- causing bakanae disease of rice

Abstract

Bakanae disease is an important disease of rice causing serious threat to basmati production in all basmati rice growing countries including India. It is emerging as major problem in basmati rice producing areas of India. As per report, this disease caused 15% losses in India and 40-50% in Japan. This disease caused by Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon (teleomorph- Gibberella fujikuroi Sawada) is mainly seed borne but this may be soil borne also. Therefore seed treatment may be an effective method for management of this disease. To know the inhibitory effect of different chemicals, fourteen fungicides (5 contact and 9 systemic) and one antibiotic were evaluated against F. moniliforme in vitro through the poison food technique. Contact fungicides at 200 and 500 ppm whereas systemic fungicides and an antibiotic at 20 and 50 ppm were evaluated. It was observed that among the contact fungicides, Manzate was highly effective and suppressed the pathogen growth 33.71 and 39.59% at 200 and 500 ppm respectively. Among the systemic fungicides, four fungicides viz. thiophanate (Milduvip), tabuconazole+trifloxystrobin (Nativo), carbendazim (Starbenz) and carbendazim+mancozeb (Saaf) were observed with complete inhibition to pathogen growth at 20 and 50 ppm. Fungicides like propiconazole, tabuconazole+trifloxtrobin and carbendazim also inhibited to spore germination completely. Present investigation concluded that systemic fungicides have the good fungicidal effect against the pathogen. Therefore, fungicides can be use for management of this disease.