Introduction: A disease is a condition in a plant that affects the plants normal functioning or development.

For a disease to occur, three conditions must be met. Firstly, a pathogen has to be present on or in the plant. Secondly, there needs to be suitable environmental conditions for the pathogen. Thirdly, the plant must be susceptible to the disease. For disease management purposes, we are most concerned with the interactions of the pathogen and host at the population level of organization. However, environmental conditions play a critical role in determining the nature of plant disease epidemics. Integrated disease management means using all the tactics available to the grower (cultural, biological, host-plant resistance, chemical) that provides acceptable yield and quality at the least cost and is compatible with the tenets of environmental stewardship. In single term, IDM aims at combining all suitable methods or tools of insect pest control in a judicious manner that minimises insecticide use and disturbance to the ecosystem. So, this method does not remain as a single system but becomes a multidisciplinary one. So, Integrated rice disease management is the combination of different methods to control diseases in a cost effective way, based on sound environmental management. Pathogen populations are kept at low levels, not causing economic damage, using a combination of appropriate technologies by ensuring insure and sustainable protection. Integrated disease management in rice: A. Prevention and Management Methods The rice crop is subjected to more than 40 diseases which are the main factors for low yield. The disease may appear at any stage of plant development, attacking the seed, root system, foliage, stalk, leaf sheath, inflorescence and even the grain. Vigorous plants and a healthy environment can rule out a disease even in the presence of pathogens. Management practices play an important role in combating plant diseases. There are various management practicesDevelopment of resistant varieties: To control rice disease, the resistant varieties is often selected. It represents the most economical and sensible approach and appeals best to farmers because it is cheap, effective, and within the reach of their means and technical skills. a) Effective resistance can be achieved by combining into the same cultivar, different racespecific genes and genes conferring quantitative resistance. Another method is by deploying resistance genes in mixed plant populations. b) Recent studies indicate that the use of cultivar mixture is an effective tool in disease management. c) Inter-planting prevents the fungus from continuous build-up of inoculums that may have previously occurred in the monoculture fields. 2. Balanced fertilization: Nutritional imbalances, both deficiencies of nutrients and excesses, render rice plants much more susceptible to attack by pathogens. Deficiencies result in a general decline in the plants health, while excesses can cause a sudden growth spurt leading to a weakening of cell walls. Either condition invites attack as is evident by a clear relationship between the diseases such as blast and brown spot and nutritional imbalances. Balanced fertiliser applications (i.e. apply fertiliser in several splits instead of all at once) minimises the risk of nutrition-related disease. An oversupply of nitrogen will

result in luxuriant crop growth that would favour the disease while a deficiency will result in low yield. C. Crop rotation: Crop rotation can disrupt the lifecycle of some pathogens (e.g., fungi) by removing from the environment the necessary host plant. Crop rotation can also discourage multiplication of soil-borne organisms which live among the roots of rice plant. D. Seed health: Since the pathogen is mainly seed-borne, clean seeds should be used to minimise its occurrence. Salt water can be used to separate light weight, infected seeds from seed lots; this may reduce seed borne inoculums. E. Biological control: It is another potential option for rice disease management. Biocontrol assumes special significance being an eco-friendly and cost effective strategy which can be used in integration with other strategies for a greater level of protection with sustained rice yields. A number of fungus, bacteria, virus, nematode and mycoplasma-like organisms cause disease to rice plants and are considered as a serious constraint for rice production. A diverse group of bio-control agents such as bacteria, fungi, viruses exist in nature. Among them bacterial antagonist are considered ideal candidates because of their rapid growth, easy handling and aggressive colonising character. Bacterial antagonists, pseudomonas, and bacillus in particular are good candidates for biological control. Bacilli are germ-positive endospore-producing bacteria that are tolerant to heat and desiccation; a very good feature required for field application. The pseudomonas are germ-negative rods and have simple nutritional requirements; they are excellent colonisers and widely prevalent in rice rhizosphere. The widely quoted and accepted definition of biological control of disease is: "the reduction in the amount of inoculua or disease-producing activity of a pathogen accomplished by or through one or more organisms." Disease Blast Brown spot Causal organism Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) Sacc. Bipolaris oryzae (Breda de Haan) Shoemaker Biocontrol agent Pseudomonas fluoresens Pseudomonas sp. P. aeruginosa Bacillus sp. B. subtilis Bacterial blight Sheath blight Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae (Ishiyama) Swing et al. Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn Bacillus sp. P. fluorescens P. putida Bacillus sp. B. subtilis B. laterosporus B. pumilus Serratia marcescens

Disease

Causal organism

Biocontrol agent Pseudomonas sp. P. aeruginosa

Sheath rot

Sarocladium oryzae (Sawada) W. Gams & D. Hawksworth

P. fluorescens B. subtilis P. aeruginosa Pseudomonas sp. P. fluorescens P. aeruginosa B. subtilis B. pumilus P. fluorescens (for vector)

Stem rot

Sclerotium oryzae Cattaneo

Tungro

Rice tungro virus Vector - Nephotettix spp.

Potential advantages of biological control: Decreased disease intensity lead to higher production; reduced use of chemical fungicides and nematicides; reduced likelihood of undesirable effects (environment pollution, effects on non-target organisms, resistance development against pesticides) from chemical pesticide; provides greater flexibility in rice disease management; can play a key role in integrated management of rice diseases; safe for the users and farming community. Potential disadvantages of biological control: May have deleterious effects on nontarget micro-organisms; pathogens may develop resistance to the bio-control agent; pathogen replacement may follow control of target disease pathogen. Seasonal/weather phenomena can make bio-control agent ineffective. Major Diseases of Rice and their management: Disease Blast Stage All growth stages Symptoms Leaf lesions- Grey Centers large in the middle tapering to ends. Also attacks stem nodes. Leaf sheath Grayish green lesions between the veins and the leaf blade Season Mostly wet cloudy skies Frequent rain and drizzle Periodic Causes High Nitrogen levels, High relative humidity

Sheath Blight

Tillering

High temperature and humidity High levels of N, High temperature and humidity

Bacterial Leaf Blight

Tillering to heading

Leaf lesions run along Wet the length of the leaf

Disease Sheath Rot Brown Spot False smut

Stage Boot leaf Flowering to maturity Flowering and maturity Flowering and maturity

Symptoms Small water soaked lesions on leaves Brown round to oval spots on leaves Ovaries transformed to large green masses lean and lanky,taller seedling, tall lanky tillers with longer internodes and aerial adventitious roots

Season Periodic Periodic

Causes High temperature and humidity 25-300 C temp & High humidity Rainfall accompanied by cloudy days

Periodic

Bakanea disease

Periodic

More vector activity

Bacterial leaf streak

Tillering to heading

Leaf streaks run along Wet the length of the leaf

Strong wind,heavy rain and deep water

1. Diseases : A. Blast (Pyricularia oryzae): Blast development is favored by thick stands and high nitrogen rates which increase canopy thickness resulting in higher moisture levels but is most severe under upland or drained conditions. Other conditions that favor blast are sandy soils and fields lined with trees. Managementa) Use of Plant varieties resistant/tolerant to blast.eg. Sali varieties-Bahadur, Basundhara, Kushal, Ranjit, Keteki Joha, Disang, Dikhow, Gitesh Ahu varieties- Kapilee, Luit, Ajaya, and Chilarai Boro varieties- Jyotiprasad and Bishnuprasad

b) Seed treatment with Tricyclazole(Beam) @4g/kg of seed. This will provide protection to seedlings up to 45 days. c) Avoid late planting: Plant as early as possible within the recommended planting period. d) For leaf blast, re-flood if field has been drained. Maintain flood at 4 -6 inches to ensure soil is covered. e) Increase the dose of potassium over the recommended level. Apply a fungicide if necessary.

f) Chemical control: Spray blast fungicide, viz or Carbendazim @ 1g/l Hinosan 1ml/l or Kitazin @ 1ml/l. B. Brown spot (Helminthosporium oryzae): Management: a) Apply a balanced fertilizer dose, for eg.40:40:40 NPK kg/ha for Jorhat region. If the 3 major nutrients are applied in proper proportion then brown spot will not be a problem. b) It is worthwhile to protect rice at flowering stage from grain infection.Spray Mancozeb @ 2.5 g/l or Hinosan @ 1ml/l at flowering in the afternoon. c) Do not spray the fungicides of Carbendazim group since they are not at all effective against this disease. C) Sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani): Managementa) Some rice varities viz.Monohar Sali, Pankaj and Lakhmi are tolerant to sheath blight. b) Green manuring with dhaincha reduces this disease by boosting the farmers friendly fungi in soil. c) Apply slow release nitrogenous fertilizer d) Spray Validamycin @ 1ml/l or Carbendazim @ 1g/l. e) Spray antagonistic bacteria, Pseudomonas flurescens from 45 DAT at 10 days interval for 3 times depending upon the severity of the disease. D) Stem rot (Sclerotium oryzae): Managementa) Control of stem rot with fungicide is not practicable because the disease is present at the base of the plant i.e. near the water line b) Potassium has a remarkable impact on the stem rot severity-alone it can drastically reduce the disease. Apply atleast 40kg K2O/ha in three splits,viz.14 kg at basal,14kg at tillering stage and the remaining at panicle initiation stage. c) Avoid massive doses of N and P2O5. d) Burn rice stubbles in stem rot sick plots. e) If it is possible, drain out the water from the field and allow the soil dry before irrigating again. E) Bakanea Fusarium moniliforme Managementa) Seed treatment(wet)-The systemic fungicide, Thiophanate-methyl (Roko) is the best followed by Carbendazim. It is necessary to use a systemic fungicide because the disease is internally seed borne. Soak the seeds for 24 hours in a suspension of Thiophanate methyl @ 2g/l or any formulation of Carbendazim fungicide @ 1g/l.One litre of suspension is required for soaking 1kg of seed. This treatment is a must for all the bakanea susceptible varieties, e.g. Keteki Joha.

b) Measures after appearance of symptomsi) If bakanea occurs in nursery bed, the elongated seedlings in a hill should be picked up and destroyed. ii) The elongated seedlings in a hill should be pulled out and destroyed to check secondary spread of the disease to adjacent hill. This practice should be obligatory in seed production plot. F) False smut (Ustilaginoidea virens) Managementa) Pankaj variety escapes false smut because it matures late. b) Summer ploughing will destroy the Sclerotia fallenon the soil, thereby reduce the disease. c) Treat the seeds with Thiram or Captan or Carbendazim at 2 g/kg. d) Spray Captafol (Foltaf) or Mancozeb (Indofil-M-45) @2.5g/lwhen the tip of the panicle just come out.The second spray is given when the entire panicle comes out. G)Bacterial leaf blight (Xanthomonas oryzae p.v. oryzae) Managementa) Burn the stubbles. Use optimum dose of fertilizers. b) Avoid clipping of tip of seedling at the time of transplanting. c) Avoid flooded conditions. Remove weed hosts. d) Spray Streptomycin sulphate and tetracycline combination 300g+ Copper oxychloride 1.25 g/ha. F) Bacterial leaf streak (Xanthomonas campestris p.v. oryzicola) ManagementSimilar to bacterial leaf blight. G) Rice Tungro disease (Rice Tungro Virus) Managementa) Summer deep ploughing and burning of stubbles. b) Destroy weed hosts of the virus and vectors. c) Control the vectors in the nursery by application of carbofuran 170 g/cent, 10 days after sowing. d) Spray Phosphamidan 500 ml or Fenthion 500 ml or Monocrotophos 1 lit/ha or Neem oil 3 per cent in the main field 15 and 30 days after transplanting to control leaf hoppers.

CONCLUSION Integrated Disease Management (IDM),a concept derived from the successful Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems developed by entomologists for insect and mite control. In most cases IDM consists of scouting with timely application of a combination of strategies and tactics. These may include site selection and preparation, utilizing resistant cultivars, altering planting practices, modifying the environment by drainage, irrigation, pruning, thinning, shading, etc., and applying pesticides, if necessary. But in addition to these traditional measures, monitoring environmental factors (temperature, moisture, soil pH, nutrients, etc.), disease forecasting, and establishing economic thresholds are important to the management scheme. These measures should be applied in a coordinated integrated and harmonized manner to maximize the benefits of each component. For example, balancing fertilizer applications with irrigation practices helps promote healthy vigorous plants. However, this is not always easy to accomplish, and disease management may be reduced to single measures exactly the same as the ones previously called disease control. Whatever the measures used, they must be compatible with the cultural practices essential for the crop being managed. Integration of methods of control of a particular crop gives better results than the individual methods. Thus, combination of fungicides with bio control agents, seed treatment with foliar sprays, supporting fungicidal sprays on moderately resistant varieties are integration of methods of control of a disease. References: 1. Integrated rice disease management by Farooq Muhammad. 2. An introduction to fungal diseases of field crops by Rathaiah Yella and Robin Gogoi. 3. Integrated disease management of rice by P. Raja and R. Saravanan.