Poster: Biology & Disease Mgmt: Biological Control
171-P
Curvularia prsadii as a biological control agent for barnyard grass (Echinochloa crus-galli) in rice fields
Y. SHABANA (1), A. Abu Tabl (1) (1) Mansoura University, Egypt
Echinochloa crus-galli is one of the most important damaging weeds of rice paddies. Three isolates of Curvularia prasadii (CP01, CP02, and CP0 3) were isolated from the rice weed, E. crus-galli in three governorates (Dakahlia, Kafr El-Sheik, and El-Garbeia) in Egypt in three consecutive growing seasons (from 2012 to 2014). The biocontrol activity of these fungal isolates was determined on the weed seedlings in the greenhouse using spore suspension of 106 conidia/ml. All of the three isolates tested produced 40-60% disease severity on the weed seedlings with no significant differences among them. Host range studies were conducted to determine the host specificity and safety of the three isolates of the bio agent, C. prsadii against 23 non-target plant species and cultivars of economic importance grown in Egypt. No disease symptoms appeared on any of the non-target plants tested. The optimum nutritional and physical conditions for the production of the biocontol agents were determined and will be discussed.