Evaluation of Antagonists and the Effectiveness of Application Methods against Sheath Blight Disease of Rice under Pot Conditions

Abstract

Rice sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani is one of the main disease of rice in the Chhattisgarh region. Three potential Trichoderma species were evaluated against sheath blight disease of paddy under pot conditions. The Trichoderma spp. Obtained/ isolated from three discrict Rajnandgaon, Raipur and Durg of Chhattisgarh were compared for their efficacy with check fungicide hexaconazole for foliar sprays. This experiment was conducted under pot condition in completely randomyzed design (CRD) with three replications during kharif 2016 and 2017. Among the three potential Trichoderma spp., highly effective species against sheath blight pathogen was evaluated. The disease severity was recorded 14 days after inoculation. The results of comparative foliar application of Raipur, Durg and Rajnandgaon Trichoderma isolates showed that all isolates of Trichoderma spp. significantly reduced the sheath blight disease severity in rice under pot conditions at 30 DAT and 60 DAT planting. Among the Trichoderma isolates, foliar spray of Durg isolate (TD3) was effectively showed 26.24% reduction in disease severity at 30 DAT and 24.85% reduction in disease severity at 60 DAT over control treatment. The highest disease severity was reduced by check fungicide hexaconazole. The Durg isolate (TD3) at 30 DAT and 60 DAT also increased the yield per plant as compared to Raipur (TR2) and Rajnandgaon isolates (TR1).