~ 957 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2019; 7(6): 957-959 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2019; 7(6): 957-959 © 2019 IJCS Received: 28-09-2019 Accepted: 30-10-2019 TSSK Patro Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India S Raj Kumar Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India A Meena Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India N Anuradha Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India U Triveni Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India P Joga Rao Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: TSSK Patro Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India Screening for identification of resistant sources of barnyard millet varieties against sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn TSSK Patro, S Raj Kumar, A Meena, N Anuradha, U Triveni and P Joga Rao Abstract Barnyard millet is the second important small millet after finger millet in India. In this present study, fourteen barnyard millet varieties including check were evaluated for resistance to banded blight at Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram during kharif, 2018. The experiment was conducted under field condition. The screening revealed that none of the test lines or varieties was immune or highly resistant. However, DHBM 33(53.8%) and VL 254 (61.7%) were recorded as susceptible, it was 98.0% in susceptible check. The disease intensity was ranged from 53.8 (DHBM 33) to 97.5 (TNEf 204), where it was 11.4% in resistant check (PRB 903) and it was 98.0 in susceptible check (LDR-1). Keywords: Barnyard millet, banded blight, screening, Rhizoctonia solani, resistant, susceptible Introduction Small millets are warm-season cereals largely grown in the semi arid tropical regions of Asia and Africa, under rainfed farming systems (Rai et al., 2008) [14] . Small millets includes finger millet (Eleucine coracana), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), little millet (Panicum sumatrance) and barnyard millet (Echinocloa frumentacea). Small millets grains are rich in dietary energy, vitamins, several minerals (especially micronutrients such as iron, calcium and zinc), insoluble dietary fiber and phyto chemicals with antioxidant properties (Bouis, 2000) [2] and are considered as “Nutri-cereals”. They are rich in compounds that help against several chronic diseases like isthemic strokes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, obesity and Type II diabetes (Jones et al., 2000, Jones, 2006) [5, 4] . Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacaea) is one of the hardiest millets, which is called by several names viz., Japanese barnyard millet, ooda, oadalu, sawan, sanwa, and sanwank. Nutritionally, Barnyard millet is an important crop. It is a fair source of protein, which is highly digestible and is an excellent source of dietary fibre with good amounts of soluble and insoluble fractions (Veena et al. 2005) [15] . The carbohydrate content is low and slowly digestible (Veena et al. 2005) [15] , which makes the Barnyard millet a natural designer food. In the present days of increased diabetes mellitus, barnyard millet could become an ideal food. Although barnyard millet like any other minor millet is nutritionally superior to cereals, yet its utilization is limited. Besides, barnyard is a fastest multipurpose crop, which yields food and forage in a short duration and at low inputs even under adverse climatic conditions. The crop Barnyard millet ids prone to many diseases and of course the diseases can effectively be controlled by application of fungicides and practicing suitable management practices. However, the poor farmers required only varieties with resistance to the diseases. Hence, the study was undertaken to identify the millet genotypes resistant to banded blight disease. Materials and Methods A field experiment was conducted against sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani during kharif, 2018 at Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram. The experiment was laid on a plot in Randomized Block Design, with 14 varieties, replicated three times which was sown in two rows of 3 m length with a spacing of 22.5 x 10 m. The recommended agronomic practices and other standard packages of practices were adopted at the time of crop growth period. Five randomly selected plants were selected from each genotype/replication for recording the