Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the major food crops of the world and is the staple food for more than half of the world’s population. It is an important cereal crop of India, affected by various fungal, bacterial and viral diseases, Sheath blight of rice caused by Rhizoctonia solani has become a major constraint to rice production. In order to combat this menace, an assessment of three fungicides namely Mancozeb, Mancozeb + Carbendazim, and Propiconazole was conducted at concentrations of 100 ppm, 200 ppm, and 300 ppm. The evaluation involved monitoring radial growth after 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours of incubation. The findings unequivocally established the efficacy of all tested fungicides, significantly surpassing the control group in inhibiting the radial growth of R. solani. Remarkably, maximum growth inhibition, reaching 100%, was consistently observed across all treatments at 24 and 48 hours. Notably, treatments T1 through T6, encompassing various concentrations (100 ppm, 200 ppm, and 300 ppm), exhibited complete growth inhibition. However, at 72 hours, Propiconazole (T9) exhibiting a slightly lower growth inhibition of 95.45%, followed by T8 (93.95%) and T7 (92.50%), yet still show casing commendable efficacy. Overall, the study underscores the effectiveness of Mancozeb, Mancozeb + Carbendazim, and Propiconazole in combatting sheath blight in rice, with the latter two fungicides proving particularly potent in achieving complete inhibition of R. solani growth, even at varied concentrations, after 72 hours of exposure.

Rice, Rhizoctonia solani, fungicides, inhibition and management

It was observed that Mancozeb and Mancozeb + Carbendazim were found most effective resulting complete inhibition of growth of Rhizoctonia solani at all concentration while Propiconazole showed least radial growth after 72 hours.

Prabhat Kumar, Anupam Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Rajan Kamboj, Ravinder, Shivani Kaundal, Sahil Chaudhary, Preeti Thakur, Neeraj Bhardwaj and Ashish (2023). In-vitro evaluation of Fungicides against Sheath Blight (Rhizoctonia solani) Disease of Rice. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(12): 278-281.