Integrated management of leaf and neck blast disease of rice caused by Pyricularia oryzae

An investigation was carried out at two locations during Kharif 2007 - 2008, to evaluate the efficacy of fungicides, bio-agent and botanicals for the management of rice blast caused by Pyricularia oryzae Cavara, on highly susceptible cv. Pankhali. All the spray treatments proved effective and reduce leaf and neck blast intensity and significantly increased the yield parameters. Among the treatments, tricyclazole proved significantly superior over rest of the treatments for all the attributes, viz., leaf blast, neck blast, grain, straw yield and 1000 grain wt. at both the locations and in pooled analysis. The next effective treatment was Pseudomonas fluorescens but it was at par with iprobenfos. Key words: Blast, Pyricularia oryzae Cav, fungicides, bio-agent, botanicals.