Prevalence and Incidence of Bakanae disease of Rice in Northern India

Bakanae disease is one of the newly emerged increasing problems of rice, particularly with basmati rice in northern India. In India, bakanae disease incidence has been increasing considerably and low to moderate disease incidences have been reported. The disease was found with 100% prevalence in all states/district surveyed viz., Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar. Disease incidence from 1.2 - 11.7 % in Uttar Pradesh, 2.1 - 3.2 % in Uttarakhand, 10.5 - 40.00% in Punjab, 2.1 - 2.8 % in Haryana, 2.4 - 13.6 % in Rajasthan and 1.8 - 8.7 % in Bihar was recorded on different basmati aromatic rice cultivars. It was also inferred by the farmers' interaction during the surveys that the most efficient method for bakanae disease management is seed treatment with carbendazim @ 2.0 g/kg or carbendazim + thiram (1:1) @ 2.5 g/kg seed