European Journal of Molecular Biotechnology, 2014, Vol.(4), № 2 95 Copyright © 2014 by Academic Publishing House Researcher Published in the Russian Federation European Journal of Molecular Biotechnology Has been issued since 2013. ISSN: 2310-6255 Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 95-100, 2014 DOI: 10.13187/ejmb.2014.4.95 www.ejournal8.com UDC 338 Effect of Different Cultural Condition on the Growth of Fusarium moniliforme Causing Bakanae Disease 1 Ramesh Singh Yadav* 2 Swati Tyagi 3 Shaily Javeria 4 Raveesh Kumar Gangwar 1-4 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, India Centre of Excellence for Sanitary and Phtyo Sanitary (SPS), Research, Training and Certification, Department of Plant Pathology Corresponding author: E- mail *spsprojectrkvy@gmail.com Abstract. In this study, Fusarium moniliforme causal organism of Bakanae disease has been isolated from infected rice seeds variety Pusa Basmati-1121 by using blotter technique. The effects of temperature, pH and carbon source on radial growth rate were assessed on potato dextrose broth medium. Precise characterisation of the growth conditions for such a fungal pathogen has an evident interest to understand and to prevent spoilage of rice crops. Study was carried out to check the effect of temperature (15–50 °C), pH (2-10), and different carbon sources (glucose, dextrose, sucrose, rice husk and sugarcane bagasse) on the growth Fusarium moliniforme. Optimum temperature and pH for growth was 20 °C and 5.0 with maximum dry mycelium weight and sporulation i.e. 2.168 gm 1.806 million spores / 100ml respectively. Maximum growth was observed when rice husk was used as sole carbon source (2.432 gm and 1.68 million spore/ 100 ml) however maximum sporulation (0.984 million spore/ 100 ml) was achieved when sugarcane bagasse was used as sole carbon source. Keywords: Fusarium moniliforme; Basmati rice; Bakanae disease. Introduction Rice is the fastener diet for more than two billion people in Asia and for a few hundreds of millions in Africa and Latin America [1, 2]. One fifth of the total world area under cereals is comes under rice cultivation. The human population is rapidly approaching seven billion and more than one half depend on rice as their food staple [3]. In India, rice is grown in different agro climatic region ranging from Kashmir to Kanyakumari as upland, middle and low land rice. Rice is grown wide areas in India, especially is western Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. The rice crop is highly sensitive and a potential host for several insect pests [4]. Total area coverage under rice is approximately 42.4 million hectare. Rice crop suffers from the attack of various type of diseases caused by diverse type of pathogen. Out of 43 fungal diseases of rice 15 are worth coming (Table 1). Out of which foot rot / Bakanae is most important in basmati variety 1121. Foot rot of rice or Bakanae disease commonly known as foolish seedling disease caused by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi (Fusarium