Morphological Variability Analysis of Rhizoctonia solani Isolates Causing Sheath Blight of Rice

Over half of the world's population depends on rice for their primary food supply. In 2020, 164.19 million hectares of rice were cultivated worldwide, with an annual yield of 756.74 million tons. In India, which is the world's second-largest producer and consumer with an area of 45.00 million hectares and a projected production of 178.30 million tonnes in 2020, rice cultivation is the backbone of the agricultural economy. There are several constraints in the production of rice of which diseases caused by fungi are responsible for major economic losses. Rice is mostly challenged by blast, sheath blight, brown spot, grain discolouration etc. Sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani is a destructive disease in rice and is considered world’s significant disease, second most predominant after blast disease and may reduce yield by 45%. The present study was carried out at Wadura (J & K) in the Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Plant Pathology (SKUAST–K) during 2022 and 2023. In this study, the morphological variations in the population of R. solani were examined. Fifty isolates were obtained from various rice-growing districts in Kashmir. The pathogen was identified using morphological traits; the morphological characters of Rhizoctonia solani were examined based on colony colour, growth pattern and hyphal width. There was a great deal of variation among these R. solani isolates.