Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(10): 3046-3051 3046 ` Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.610.358 Management of Stem Rot Disease of Paddy Using Fungicides D. Pramesh 1,2* , Saddamhusen Alase 1,2 , K.M. Muniraju 1,2 and M. Kirana Kumara 1,2 1 All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Programme, Agricultural Research Station, Gangavathi-583 227, Karnataka, India 2 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur-584104, Karnataka, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food in many countries and food security to millions of population in the world and is one of the major food crops of India. More than 90% of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia where 60% of the earth’s people live (Kole, 2006). Under field condition, the productivity of rice is affected by many biotic and abiotic factors. Among the different biotic constraints, diseases caused by fungal pathogens such as leaf blast, neck blast, sheath blight, sheath rot, false smut and stem rot cause significant damage in irrigated rice (Jackson et al., 1977; Bonman et al., 1991; Kindo and Tiwari, 2015). Stem rot of rice caused by Sclerotium oryzae is becoming a serious problem of rice cultivation in the Indian subcontinent (Singh et al., 2002). The causal agent was first described from Italy in the sclerotial form and was named S. oryzae Catt. (Cattaneo, 1876). In Karnataka, this disease occurred in epidemic form during 2012-13 and yield loss up to 30% was reported on paddy cultivar BPT5204 in North eastern part of Karnataka (Pramesh and Guruprasad, 2014). This disease was also reported to be the major constraint for paddy International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 10 (2017) pp. 3046-3051 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A field study was conducted during Kharif 2014 and Kharif 2015 to evaluate the bioefficacy of fungicides (both solo and combination products) against stem rot disease of paddy. Different fungicides were tested either as seed treatment (ST), seedling dip (SD), foliar spray (FS) or in combinations. Disease was measured in 0-9 standard evaluation scale and scores were transformed into percent disease index (PDI). PDI of Kharif 2014 and Kharif 2015 were pooled to get the mean PDI. Among the different treatments, ST with carbendazim at 2g/kg of seed + FS with Thifluzamide 24 SC (0.75 ml/l) have recorded lowest PDI of 15.15 (mean PDI) which was on par with another treatment comprises ST with carbendazim at 2g/kg of seed + FS with Thiophanate Methyl 70 WP at 1.5 g/l (mean PDI 18.7). Significant increase in grain yield (51.6 q/h) was observed in the plots having treatment combination of ST with carbendazim at 2g/kg of seed + FS with Thifluzamide 24 SC (0.75 ml/l) which was statistically on par with another treatment comprises ST with carbendazim at 2g/kg of seed + FS with Thiophanate Methyl 70 WP at 1.5 g/l (50.3 q/h) whereas, other treatments recorded the yield in the range of 34.8-44.6 q/ha. Keywords Stem Rot, Seed Treatment, Seedling Dip, Thifluzamide 24 SC, Thiophanate Methyl 70 WP. Accepted: 26 September 2017 Available Online: 10 October 2017 Article Info