IDENTIFICATION OF RESISTANT SOURCES AGAINST RHIZOCTONIA SOLANI KUHN, THE INCITANT OF SHEATH BLIGHT OF ECHINOCLOA FRUMENTACEA T.S.S.K. Patro*, M. Divya, Y. Sandhya Rani, U. Triveni and N. Anuradha Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram-535 001, Andhra Pradesh, India. *Corresponding author email: drsamuelpatro@gmail.com Small millet crops have a long history of cultivation of more than 5000 years and grown in many states (1) due to their unique adaptation properties for poor degraded lands and ability to tolerate abiotic stress. They belong to family Poaceae (Graminae) and are mostly cultivated as rainfed crops on marginal soils. Six small millets viz., finger millet, barnyard millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, kodo millet and little millet are the most important small millet crops of India. Among these, barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea (Roxb.) also called as Odalu, Jhangora, Sawan, Kuthiravali, Kavadapullu has emerged as very important dual purpose feed and fodder crop. Barnyard millet is grown in many countries like India, China, Japan, Malaysia, East Indies, Africa and United States of America. In India, it is grown in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar. It has 6 times high fiber content when compared with wheat. It is high in phosphorous, calcium and fiber. It is high in carbohydrates and fat too. It helps to maintain the body temperature. It acts as a good anti oxidant too. Barnyard millets are. Barnyard has low glycemic index and thus helps in type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease with regular intake of this millet. Its straw provides a good quality fodder for cattle, which is an important component of sustainable hill farming system, as fodder becomes scarce during winter. It is also used as feed for caged birds. Incidentally, barnyard millet is known to be affected by several diseases (2). During 2007, in a routine survey for diseases of small millets first report of naturally occurred symptoms of banded sheath blight disease on barnyard millet caused by Rhizoctonia solani was recorded (3). During kharif 2007, fast spreading symptoms of banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB) were observed on barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea) at late tillering stage in the experimental fields of Madhya Pradesh (4). As it is a low value crop doesn’t offer much scope for additional cash inputs like fungicides and chemical methods of control are generally not advisable, hence growing resistant varieties is the best option. Very little efforts have been made to identify the resistant sources of barnyard millet against banded leaf blight disease. So an attempt was made to identify the sheath blight resistant lines. Ten barnyard advanced varieties were evaluated at Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram during kharif 2016. These entries were evaluated in two rows of 3 m length sown at 22.5 X 10 cm spacing in infector row method using local check as a susceptible variety so as to ensure the availability of sufficient inoculum. The recommended agronomical practices with 25 N: 40 P: 25 K in kg/ha were adopted for better crop growth. Randomly five plants were selected from each genotype/replication for recording the observations. Infected plants were examined for lesion development and disease severity was assessed on the basis of lesion length by using 0 to 5 scale (5) (Table-1). Data was taken and expressed in percentage. The Percent Disease Index (PDI) was calculated by using the following formula : PDI = Sum of all disease ratings Total no. of ratings Ma ´ ximum disease grade ´ 100 Ten entries were evaluated during kharif 2016 in barnyard millet advanced variety trial. Screening of varieties revealed that none of the test lines or varieties was immune or highly resistant to sheath blight disease and almost all entries were recorded maximum disease intensity. Among them, disease intensity ranges from 85.33% (VL 207) to 97.33% (DHBM 18-6, VL 249 and DHBM 99-6) while it was 98.67% in the local check (Table- 2). (6) evaluated 13 entries, in which all the entries of barnyard millet showed resistant to moderately susceptible reaction, except for RBM 9-4, which was completely free from BLSB infection. (7) screened 120 recombinant inbred lines and identified 4 lines viz., MLC-29-5, 54-4, 63-4-1 and 89-4 with 2% disease incidence. (8, 9) reported that all the small millet crops were found infected with R. solani, whereas in the screening of barnyard millet BAVT 4, BAVT 18 and BAVT 19 were found as resistant genotypes. A total of 13 barnyard millet varieties including check were evaluated for resistance to sheath blight at Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram during kharif, 2016. The experiment was conducted under field condition. The screening revealed that none of the test lines or varieties was immune or highly resistant. Disease intensity ranges from 85.33% (VL 207) to 97.33% (DHBM Progressive Research – An International Journal Society for Scientific Development Volume 12 (1) : 125-126, (2017) in Agriculture and Technology Print ISSN : 0973-6417, Online ISSN : 2454-6003 Meerut (U.P.) INDIA