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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp2 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Dynamic relationship of weather variables, transplanting time and rice blast severity in Northwestern Haryana, India

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11329
Submitted
18 August 2025
Published
30-06-2026

Abstract

Rice blast, caused by the fungus Pyricularia oryzae Cavara, is one of the most important rice diseases worldwide. It damages plant leaves and panicles, reduces photosynthetic area and may even cause plant death. However, the disease appears only under favorable weather conditions. The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of weather factors on rice blast under field conditions. Field experiments were carried out during kharif 2022 and 2023 at Rice Research Station, RRS Kaul. Two varieties, CSR 30 and PB 1121, were transplanted on 3 dates (7th, 16th and 22nd June) under irrigated conditions. Initial leaf symptoms appeared during the final week of July or the first week of August, when the mid-tillering stage coincided with conducive environmental conditions in both years. Maximum disease progression for both leaf blast and neck blast was observed with the last date of transplanting in both years and varieties. The optimum temperature (~25 °C) and relative humidity (~92 %) were found to favor disease development. Correlation and regression analyses revealed a significant quantitative association between prevailing meteorological parameters and disease severity, indicating that weather variables collectively played a decisive role in epidemic development across both years.

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