Assessment Of Rice Diseases And Yield Under System Of Rice Intensification (Sri) In Morogoro, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

The overall objective of the study was to assess the status of rice diseases under system of rice intensification (SRI) and farmer’s production system in Morogoro. A checklist survey in nine farmer fields was done and later experiments at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Crop Museum for two seasons. The experiment was laid down in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. The treatments were three different types of spacing 25 cm x 25 cm for SRI, 20 cm x 20 cm for farmers practice one (FP1), random spacing for farmers practice two (FP2). Rice leaf samples were tested for presence of rice diseases pathogens using blotter method. Five rice diseases were observed in the survey. Rice brown spot diseases (RBSD) occurred most frequently in all locations while rice yellow mottle virus disease (RYMVD) was observed in seven locations. Rice sheath blight diseases (RSBD) and rice blast diseases (RBD) were recorded from four locations while rice bacterial leaf blight (RBLBD) in one location. On the other hand three diseases (RYMVD, RSBD and RBSD) were observed in onstation experiments, in all treatments for both seasons. The diseases incidence and severity were significantly different (P