Sustainable management of sheath blight in <i>Oryza sativa </i>L. by integrated biological approach

Rice sheath blight brought on by Rhizoctonia solani is one of the most significant diseases in the world, which results in significant yield losses. Application of chemical fungicides is the most preferred approach for the management of disease but extensive use of them results in environment pollution and resistance development to pathogen. Thus, there is a need to explore alternative strategies to overcome the problem of fungicide usage. The present study was done to develop sustainable strategy which is an environment friendly and alternative to chemical fungicides. Among various treatments, soil application of neem cake at 200 kg acre-1 + foliar spray of micronutrient mixture 5 g l-1 at 40 days after transplanting (DAT) + foliar spray of microbial consortia 5 g l-1 at 50 DAT was found very effective in reducing the disease severity (19.16%) and increasing growth promotion activity compared to control. Therefore, the findings of this investigation could be exploited under bio-intensive disease management programme for sustainable cultivation of rice.