EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT CHEMICALS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF BACTERIAL LEAF BLIGHT OF RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS OF ADAPTIVE RESEARCH ZONE SHEIKHUPURA

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), is one of the most important staple food and a life line for thousands of millions of people for their daily requirements especially in Asia and Africa but it’s production is threatened by several abiotic and biotic stresses. One of the most devastating diseases for low yield of rice is Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB) caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae which appears at tillering and booting stage and touches its peak at flowering stage as plant grows. To manage this menace, efficacy of three fungicides (Trifloxystrobin + Tubeconazol, copper oxychloride and Bordeux mixture) were tested as foliar spray for their effect on BLB at various locations (farm and farmer fields) of district Sheikhupura during kharif season 2014. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Pre and post treatment observations were taken in percentages damage by the disease BLB. Number of filled grains tillers, plant height (cm), grains per spike, thousand grain weight (g) and yield (kgha^-1) were recorded at harvesting. Among the test chemicals, copper oxychloride and Trifloxystrobin + Tubeconazole were remained statistically at par. Maximum 63, 50, 73% (cumulative of three locations) decrease over control was observed in copper oxychloride treated plot followed by 44, 41, 70% (three locations) decrease over control from Trifloxystrobin + Tubeconazole. The highest paddy yield at three locations among the test treatments was recorded in copper oxychloride treated plot (4766.7, 3016.0 & 4650.0 kgha^-1) followed by Trifloxystrobin + Tubeconazole yielding 4483.0, 2860.0 & 4596.0 kgha^-1 against 4036 , 2386.7 & 4283.0 kg ha^-1 paddy yield in the control at three locations. It is depicted from the results that application of copper based fungicides significantly reduced the impact of disease in rice crop as compared to untreated one. Among the tested chemicals, the use of copper oxychloride played important role from all chemicals for the management of holistic BLB disease of rice.