Survey and Occurrence of Major Biotic Stresses of Rice in Sangrur District of Punjab

Field survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of major biotic stresses of rice in different blocks of district Sangrur in Punjab. The Leaf folder, brown plant hopper, sheath blight, false smut and kernel smut were observed the major biotic stresses of rice in this region. The more damage of leaf folder and brown plant hopper populations observed in rice with combination of favourable meteorological factors such as reduced rainfall coupled with high humidity, high temperature and diminished sunshine hours. The damage of leaf folder and brown plant hopper population varied with weather conditions and significantly positive correlated with maximum temperature and negatively with occurrence of rainfall. The disease sheath blight might be due to the prevalence of highly favorable factors of high relative humidity, less temperature and occurrence of more rainfall convenient for disease development. The false smut and kernel smut diseases observed high incidence due to prevailing of favourable weather for long time coinciding with rainy days at the time of flowering stage of the crop, ultimately increasing the relative humidity which is a crucial factor for development of disease.