Management of sheath blight of Basmati rice using plant protection practices of Natural Farming

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important cereal crop and staple food for a large part of world's population. Rice cultivation is often subjected to several biotic stresses because of which diseases like blast, sheath blight, stem rot and bacterial blight are the important ones. Among these, sheath blight of rice is a destructive disease in all the rice growing areas of the world. The disease is caused by a soil-borne fungal pathogen, Rhizoctonia solani. Rhizoctonia solani is one of the most economically significant rice diseases worldwide. This disease causes significant grain yield and quality losses. The present experiment was conducted at Nematology lab and field for management of R. solani. The efficacy of different natural farming component viz., Jeevamrit, Beejamrit, cow urine, fermented cow urine, fermented whey, Neemashtra, Butter milk and pencycuron 250 SC (fungicide) were tested against Rhizoctonia solani. Among all the treatments, (T3) fermented cow urine @ 20% concentration was found most effective in lab condition it was completely inhibit the mycelial growth and no sclerotia formation R. solani. While minimum 1.44 inhibition per cent was recorded in (T2) at 72 hours. In case of field condition maximum plant height 76.59 cm, 109.93 cm was recoded at 30 and 60 DAT in (T5) S.A of Jeevamrit @ 500 l/ha + S.T of Beejamrit @ 100 ml/kg + F.A of Neemashtra @ 250 l/ha. Minimum plant height 76.03 cm ,103 cm was observed at same days in (T3) S. A of Jeevamrit 250 l/ha + F. A of Fermented whey @ 20 %. Maximum number 12.44. 12.63 tiller/plant was record in (T5) S. A of Jeevamrit @ 500 l/ha + S.T of Beejamrit @ 100 ml/kg + F.A of Neemashtra @ 250 l/ha and minimum 9.66, 10.03 number of tillers/hills was record in (T3) at 30 and 60 DAT. Maximum (42.93, 38.63 SPAD value) chlorophyll content was recorded in (T5) S.A of Jeevamrit @ 500 l/ha + S.T of Beejamrit @ 100 ml/kg + Neemashtra @ 250 l/ha at 30 and 60 DAT. While minimum (40.11, 33.97 SPAD value) chlorophyll content was recorded in (T3) at same days. Maximum disease severity 26 % was recorded in (T4) S.A of Jeevamrit @ 250 l/ha + F.A of Neemashtra @ 250 l/ha and minimum disease severity 20 % recorded in (T7) pencycuron @ 250 SC @ 0.06% while among natural component minimum disease severity was recoded in (T5). Maximum yield 20 q/ha was recorded in (T7) pencycuron 250 SC @ 0.06% followed by 19.45 q/ha in (T5) and minimum yield was recorded in (T3). In the present study, natural component application of (T5) S.A of Jeevamrit @ 500 l/ha + S.T of Beejamrit @ 100 ml/kg + F.A of Neemashtra was found highly effective in growth and yield parameter in the crop, while (T7) pencycuron 250 SC showed minimum disease severity.