Sheath rot disease of rice caused by Sarocladium oryzae (Sawada) Gams and Hawksworth (=Acrocylindrium oryzae Sawada) has become an important production constraint in all rice-growing countries. It is one of the most common diseases of rice under unfavourable weather conditions during flag leaf sheath development. The present investigation was conducted in order to have the basic information on the cultural characters of the sheath rot pathogen and evaluation of various chemicals, botanicals and biocontrol agents (BCA) against the pathogen under in-vitro conditions. The pathogen of the disease, S. oryzae was isolated from the infected leaf sheath. The growth pattern and sporulation of the pathogen were evaluated by using five different culture media under in-vitro condition. The highest mycelial growth was observed in Rose Bengal agar (7.70 cm) and the least radial growth in Richard’s agar (4.31 cm). All the media showed good sporulation of the fungus. Five each of fungicides and plant extracts and four BCAs were evaluated to find out the efficacy against the pathogen, S. oryzae. Out of the five fungicides, complete inhibition of mycelial growth (99.8%) was observed in the systemic fungicides of Carbendazim, Propiconazole, Hexaconazole and Tebuconazole at 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% concentrations. Least inhibition (53.9%) was found in the treatment of the non systemic fungicide Mancozeb at 0.1% concentration. Neem leaf extract was found to be the most effective with per cent inhibition of 57.1%, 64.3% and 69.7% of the mycelial growth of the pathogen at 5%, 10% and 15% concentrations respectively followed by ginger rhizome, tulsi leaf, onion bulb and garlic clove. Among the BCAs, Trichoderma viride had the highest per cent inhibition of mycelial growth (70.63%) followed by T. harzianum (64.92%), Bacillus subtilis (55.46%) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (45.38%). The best promising products like Carbendazim, Propiconazole, Hexaconazole, Tebuconazole, neem leaf extract and T. viride may be further evaluated by multilocation trails and they could be recommended in integrated disease management (IDM) programme for managing sheath rot of rice.

Key words: Sheath rot, management, fungicides, plant extracts, BCAs, rice, in-vitro.