Occurrence, identification and pathogenicity of Fusarium species associated with bakanae disease of basmati rice in India

• DOI: 10.1007/s10658-015-0783-8
• Publication Date: 2015-11-03T18:20:59Z
• Authors: B. M. Bashyal; Rashmi Aggarwal; Sapna Sharma; Sangeeta Gupta; Kirti Rawat; Dhiraj Singh; A. K. Singh; S. Gopala Krishnan
• Keywords: Pusa; Uttar pradesh

The incidence of bakanae disease of rice was studied in the basmati growing states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India. Maximum disease incidence (20 %) was observed from the Karnal district of Haryana and Bulandshar, Ghaziabad and Mathura districts of Uttar Pradesh in rice variety Pusa Basmati 1121 and Pusa Basmati 1509. Disease was also observed in other popular basmati rice varieties of the country including Pusa Basmati 6, Pusa 2511, CSR 30, Pakistani Basmati and Sarbati with the incidence of 0.5 % to 10 %. One hundred and twenty-six isolates of Fusarium spp. were isolated from symptomatic plants and were characterized morphologically and 42 isolates were characterized at the molecular level. Out of 42 isolates characterized based on translation elongation factor 1 α (TEF- 1α), 41 were identified as Fusarium fujikuroi. Virulence analysis performed on rice variety Pusa Basmati 1509 categorized the isolates as moderately virulent (37.3 %), virulent (34.1 %) and highly virulent (28.6 %). Results indicated that F. fujikuroi is predominant in symptomatic diseased plants and a management programme should be developed by considering the prevalence and virulence of the pathogen in the area of intended cultivation.