Plant Disease Research

  • Year: 2016
  • Volume: 31
  • Issue: 2

Morphological characterization of Rhizoctonia species associated with sheath blight complex in rice

  • Author:
  • Satnam Singh1, Mandeep Singh Hunjan1, J. S. Lore
  • Total Page Count: 8
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 130 to 137

1Department of Plant Pathology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004

Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004

Abstract

Sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani is one of the most devastating diseases of rice that causes serious yield losses under favourable environmental conditions. A total of fifty Rhizoctonia isolates collected from different agro-climatic zones of punjab were characterized for their morphological variability. The isolates showed high variability for colony growth rate, hyphal width, number and size of sclerotia and time to formation of sclerotia.

Based on morphological variation, the isolates were clustered into five groups (M1-M5). The group M5 with four isolates RS1522, RS1548, RS1550 and RS1573 had the minimum number of sclerotia, smallest sclerotia diameter, fastest colony growth rate and the moderate hyphal width. group M1 had the maximum number of sclerotia, largest sclerotia diameter, slowest colony growth rate and smallest hyphal width. The group M2 ranked second for average number of sclerotia and sclerotium diameter with the moderate colony growth rate and maximum hyphal width. Groups M3 and M4 had moderate average values of all parameters that lie between group M2 and M4.

The results confirmed significant variations in Rhizoctonia isolates with respect to the morphological characters in punjab state of India.

Keywords

Rice, Rhizoctonia isolates, sheath blight, sclerotia, diversity