Untitled - International Rice Research Institute

Table 3. Pathogen profiles closely associated with rice production situations (PS) and potential yield losses caused
by rice diseases (adapted and modified from Savary et al 1998, Savary and Willocquet 1999).
PS1 PS2 PS3 PS4 PS5 PS6 Yield loss
(%)
Actual yield (t ha –1 ) 4.8 4.6 3.5 6.7 3.8 3.9
Disease
Blast a L L M M 1–3
Bacterial blight L L L L L 0.2
Bakanae VL 0.0
Brown spot L L VH H H 6.6
Sheath blight VH VH M VH H H 6.4
Sheath rot complex M M H M 0.5
Grain discoloration M M H M 0.1
Characteristics of environments
Mineral fertilizer m l l h m h
Fallow period l l m s m s
Drought stress l l h l h m
Water stress l l l h h h
Crop establishment tr tr tr ds ds ds
Herbicide use m l l m l l
Insecticide use m m m m m m
Fungicide use l l l h h h
Previous crop rice rice w/b w/b rice rice
a
In the surveys, rice varieties possessing resistance to blast and bacterial blight diseases. For characteristics of environments, m = moderate, h =
high, l = low, tr = transplanted rice, ds = direct-seeded rice, s = short, w/b = wheat or barley. For diseases and grain discoloration, L = low, M = medium,
H = high, VH = very high.
Disease and infection cycles
Figure 2 shows how seedborne inoculum reinfects
the seed during the development of a disease epidemic:
seedborne inoculum → disease establishment
→ disease development in the field (infection cycle)
→ crop damage or yield loss (effect of seedborne
inoculum) → reinfection of infestation of seed (potential
dissemination to other fields, regions, or countries).
There is voluminous information on seedborne
pathogens of various crops derived from routine seed
health testing for either certification or issuance of
phytosanitary certificates. Information on transmission
of the pathogen from the infected or infested
seed to disease development in the field is scarce.
Various factors that affect the infection cycle are
weather conditions, cropping practices, resistance or
susceptibility of the variety, virulence of the pathogen,
and amount of incoculum produced for secondary
spread and efficiency of the inoculum.
It is often assumed that, for a pathogen to be
seedborne, it must be seed-transmitted. McGee
(1995) indicated that in only very few seedborne
pathogens is the transmission clearly established.
When conditions in the nursery bed and the
ecosystem where rice is grown re taken into account,
there is inadequate documentation on plant
quarantine to guide decision making. It is not
known under what specific conditions seedborne
pathogens are transmitted to the crop at the seedling
stage. Blast caused by P. oryzae and bakanae
caused by F. moniliforme, are two of the better
known diseases (Ou 1985). Once a disease is established
in a crop, its intensity will depend on factors
that influence the infection cycle. Climatic
conditions and crop management practices are
crucial to disease development.
In rice, the infection frequency of P. oryzae is
very low, yet the disease potential under a conducive
environment (e.g., upland, subtropical, and
temperate) is very high. Once seedlings are infected
from seedborne inoculum, even at a low
infection rate, millions of conidia are produced for
secondary infection. On the other hand, seedborne
F. moniliforme often induces bakanae with only
one cycle of infection. Therefore, the initial inocu-
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