Management of sheath blight of rice using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens based biofungicide

Rice (Oryza sativa l.) is an important cereal crop belonging to Gramineae family. The production and productivity of the rice crop are affected by many fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases. Out of these diseases sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani) is one of the most devastating diseases. Among different management strategies, biocontrol seems to be promising, as the use of chemical fungicides in disease management has many limitations including environmental hazards and development of resistance to fungicides. Considering the importance of the disease, the present study was conducted with the potential biocontrol agent against sheath blight of rice. In this study, the biopesticide Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was tested against sheath blight of rice under in-vitro and in-vivo conditions. Results showed that biopesticide Bacillus amyloliquefaciens formulation when applied as seedling plus foliar spray treatment, achieved disease control of 47.20% and 30.04% during both Kharif seasons 2022 and 2023, respectively. Meanwhile, the application of the fungitoxicant Amistar top 325 SC, a part of farmers’ practices, exhibited significant disease control of 48.80% and 36.50% at a dosage of 200ml in 200 liters of water per acre over the control treatment during the same period (2022 & 2023). The biopesticide Bacillus amyloliquefaciens did not show any phytotoxicity on rice crop in both the years respectively. Therefore, based on observations of two years, biopesticide Bacillus amyloliquefaciens formulation as seedling plus foliar spray treatment was found effective in managing the sheath blight of rice caused by Rhizoctonia solani as compared to other treatments and comparable with framer’s practices with plant protectants like fungitoxicant Amistar top 325 SC.