Field evaluation of some novel fungicides for the management of sheath rot disease in rice

Sheath rot caused by Sarocladium oryzae (Sawada) is one of the most important diseases of the major high-yielding rice varieties. The use of same fungicide continuously year after year can cause fungicidal resistance to the pathogen. Keeping this in view, a field experiment was conducted at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station, Chiplima, Sambalpur, Odisha during kharif seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24 to assess the effect of nine novel and commercially available fungicides for the management of sheath rot disease in rice. They were sprayed twice at 15 days interval starting from the panicle initiation stage. Among all the fungicides Kresoxim-methyl 40% + Hexaconazole 8.0% WG @ 1g/l was found best to manage the disease during both the years of experiment. It gave 72.6% disease control and 49.6% yield increase over check plots in rice.