Characterization of New Rice Genotypes for Blast and Brown Spot Disease Resistance and Iron-Toxicity Tolerance in Burkina Faso

Rice production in Burkina Faso is threatened by a number of abiotic and biotic constraints, including iron toxicity and main fungal diseases that limit the potential of cultivated varieties. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of new rice genotypes against main biotic and abiotic stresses. A total of 08 genotypes were tested allowed a Fisher block design with 03 replicates. Assessments focused on severity of iron toxicity, the severity and incidence of blast and brown spot disease and agro-morphological traits. The GRS IR-6-S3-Y1-D genotype was the most sensitive to iron toxicity, while the Sahel 108, BF19AR006 and SV1CP genotypes were the most resistant. As for fungal diseases, severity scores ranged from 4.33 to 7.67 for blast and from 4.00 to 7.03 for brown spot disease while incidence rates were 88.33% and 81.67% for blast and brown spot disease respectively. Genotype IR93654-10-3-2-1-ARS-SALS was resistant to both blast and brown spot disease. Person's correlation matrix showed both positive and negative correlations between the various agro-morphological parameters and pathological traits. Hierarchical ascending classification showed that the SV1CP and IR93654-10-3-2-1-ARS-SALS genotypes performed better agronomically. with yields of over 7.000 kg/ha and showed good tolerance to iron toxicity, blast and brown spot disease.