Abstract
Sheath rot (Sarocladium oryzae) of rice emerged as one of the major diseases in almost all rice-growing ecosystems of India. The disease occurs on the upper leaf sheath enclosing the young panicles. Under severe conditions the sheaths become rotten, discolored and the grains of the partially emerged panicles shows chaffiness and sterility. The use of fungicides play an important role in the management of the disease. To keep in the views eight new ready mix fungicides were evaluated against the disease during kharif 2017 and 2018. The results on per cent disease severity and per cent disease incidence showed that all the treatments were significantly minimized by 14.99~(-1)8.56 per cent and 63.21-68.37 per cent, respectively where as in untreated control these were 26.22 and 84.00 per cent, respectively. The minimum per cent disease severity and per cent disease incidence (14.99% and 63.21, respectively) was recorded in flusilazole 12.5% + carbendazim 25% SC @ 1.0 ml l~(-1) and azoxystrobin 18.2% +difenoconazole 11.4% SC @ 1.0 ml l~(-1) (15.93% and 65.15%, respectively). Both the ready mix fungicides are more specific and significantly effective towards the crop and pathogen at lower doses. The pooled data on grain yield showed that maximum grainyield (6345.12 kg ha~(-1)) was recorded in flusilazole 12.5% + carbendazim 25% SC @ 1.0 ml l~(-1) followed by trifloxystrobin 25% + tebuconazole 50% WG @ 0.4 g l~(-1) (5984.12 kg ha~(-1)) and azoxystrobin 18.2% + difenoconazole 11.4% SC @ 1.0 ml l~(-1)(5968.87 kg ha~(-1)), where as in untreated control the grain yield was 4836.12 kg ha~(-1).
NSTL