Studies on false smut of rice caused by Ustilaginoidea virens and its’ mitigation strategies

Abstract

Among all the important food grain crops, rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important worldwide. It is of the Gramineae or Poaceae family. Numerous diseases manifest in rice nurseries and primary field diseases. Among all the diseases, False Smut of Rice (Ustilaginoidea virens) will be the subject of our discussion. It is also referred to as “Laxmi” disease, is one of the main diseases affecting rice and is getting more common. It affects most of the rice-growing regions of India and all over the world. Morphological identification and surveying were also done in this study. During survey it was seen that the Punjab state was most affected than the Manipur. Colony morphology showed regular, fluffy, and whitish-yellow with an average growth of about three cm in PDA media. The screening of different media for the best growth media was also seen and PDA was the most suitable for growth. The natural screening of RFS is done in 43 rice elite varieties and we found only three varieties are resistant. The resistant was found in the only one variety i.e. IR 64 DUB1 against the false smut. This study primary focus on the fundamental basic breeding approach i.e. screening and also provide the path for the evolution of disease immune variety.