Evaluation of rice associated Bacillus spp. against sheath blight and bacterial blight of rice

Bacterial antagonist, Bacillus spp. cultures were isolated from different places of Kuttanad region. Three effective endophytic Bacillus strains viz., B 15, B 17 and B 33 were tested in the separate field experiments against sheath blight and bacterial blight diseases of rice during Kharif 2017, Rabi 2018-19, Kharif 2019 and Kharif 2020. In the field study, the Bacillus cultures were treated as standard bioagent application methods of seed (10 g/kg), soil (1 kg/acre) and foliar (20 g/litre of water) spraying against the major diseases in rice. The rice associated native Bacillus cultures B 15, B 17 and B 33 were found equally effective for the sheath blight and bacterial blight diseases management. All the three native Bacillus species can be used as potential biopesticides against rice sheath blight and bacterial diseases in Kuttanad region.