Bioefficacy of novel fungicide molecules in the management of false smut of rice caused by Ustilaginoidea virens

Abstract

Field experiments were carried out to know the efficacy of seven novel fungicides and their application at different crop stages to manage false smut disease of rice during kharif 2017 and 2018. A variant with no application of fungicide was used as control. Pooled results of two season experiment indicated that foliar spray of trifloxystrobin 25% + tebuconazole 50% 75 WG (0.4 g l-1) at booting or 50% panicle emergence (PE) was found to be effective in reducing per cent infected grains per panicle to the extent of 1.36 or 1.68. Per cent infected panicle per m2 was 1.58 or 0.97 with the disease severity of 2.06 or 1.61 per cent that has also resulted in increased grain yield of 59.74 or 60.97 q ha-1 respectively. The other fungicides viz., tebuconazole 250 EC (1 ml l-1), azoxystrobin 25 EC (1 ml l-1) and propiconazole 25 EC (1 ml l-1) at booting or 50% PE were found to be effective with per cent disease severity of 3.40 or 2.11, 2.68 or 2.70, 2.83 or 2.79 respectively when compared to untreated control (17.30 or 15.38%). The enhanced yield was noticed under different chemical treatments, which were superior over the untreated check under field condition.