Drying of rice crop – a newly progressing entity, its identification, pathogenicity, physiology and developing appropriate control measures

Drying of rice seedlings caused by the entity, (Dactylella ellipsospora) is a newly appearing disease in paddy field in Punjab Pakistan. This problem was recorded during 2002 crop season survey for the first time in districts of Jhang and Faisalabad in the suburbs of the river Chenab. In Jhang it damaged (2.5) acre rice crop while in Faisalabad it caused destruction of (½) acre rice crop in village 233 Tikkawala. Studies have been conducted on the aspects of pathogen identification, its pathogenic nature and to develop control measures. The fungus culture was incubated after inoculation on synthetic neutrient agar, PDA medium, it covers 90 mm petri plates in 96 hours period. When kept in NUV light for 24 hours to conidial production, single conidia appeared on conidiophore with six septation having middle cell broader, outer cells tapering at both ends and thin in size, was identified, as Dactylella elepsospora Grove. In field studies the pathogen caused 36% pre emergence seed rot and 40% post emergence seedling mortality. Trichoderma harzianum treatment showed 70% germination of seeds while the pathogen Dactylella ellipsospora showed 64% germination. In control studies, Topsin-M and Rabcide effectively controlled the disease. Both fungicides caused 86.66% to 93.33% reduction in pathogen growth. Physiological studies showed its fast growing nature at 22±1ºC on synthetic medium.