article · Journal of Fungi
Rice blast is a major fungal threat to rice crops, frequently overcoming single-gene resistance in bred varieties and necessitating chemical management. Field trials conducted over two consecutive years in northern India evaluated fungicide treatments on susceptible aromatic rice. While tricyclazole demonstrated the highest efficacy against both leaf and neck blast, specific combination treatments also achieved high disease reduction. In particular, formulations combining azoxystrobin with difenoconazole or tebuconazole significantly lowered leaf blast incidence to near-comparable levels, outperforming combinations such as mancozeb with carbendazim. Because tricyclazole faces bans and resistance challenges in several countries, these tested strobilurin and triazole combinations present practical alternative chemical options to protect blast-susceptible cultivars.
Rice blast disease easily overcomes plant genetic resistance, threatening grain yields and food security. With standard chemical controls such as tricyclazole facing regulatory bans and resistance issues, identifying effective replacement fungicides helps growers protect susceptible, high-value rice varieties without compromising disease management.
This research is applied and field-tested, offering direct guidance to rice farmers managing susceptible aromatic varieties. Agrochemical manufacturers, distributors, and agronomic advisers can use these findings to support the deployment of dual-action strobilurin and triazole formulations as near-market alternatives where tricyclazole is restricted.
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Rice blast is considered one of the most important fungal diseases of rice. Although diseases can be managed by using resistant cultivars, the blast pathogen has successfully overcome the single gene resistance in a short period and rendered several varieties susceptible to blast which were otherwise intended to be resistant. As such, chemical control is still the most efficient method of disease control for reducing the losses caused due to diseases. Field experiments were conducted over two successive years, 2018 and 2019, in temperate rice growing areas in northern India. All the fungicides effectively reduced leaf blast incidence and intensity, and neck blast incidence under field conditions. Tricyclazole proved most effective against rice blast and recorded a leaf blast incidence of only 8.41%. Among the combinations of fungicides, azoxystrobin + difenoconazole and azoxystrobin + tebuconazole were highly effective, recording a leaf blast incidence of 9.19 and 10.40%, respectively. The chemical combination mancozeb + carbendazim proved less effective in controlling the blast and it recorded a disease incidence of 27.61%. A similar trend was followed in neck blast incidence with tricyclazole, azoxystrobin + difenoconazole, and azoxystrobin + tebuconazole showing the highest levels of blast reductions. It is evident from the current study that the tested fungicide combinations can be used as alternatives to tricyclazole which is facing the challenges of fungicide resistance development and other environmental concerns and has been banned from use in India and other countries. The manuscript may provide a guideline of fungicide application to farmers cultivating susceptible varieties of rice.
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DOI: 10.3390/jof7121060
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