Sheath blight of rice is an economically important pathogen of rice worldwide. The simple methods based on morphological markers can be used to identify the associated pathogens. In the present study, three fungal isolates were studied for morphological and pathological characters. They were fast growing in culture medium with differences in sclerotia formation and exhibited varying degree of virulence on the same cultivar BPT5204, a variety susceptible to sheath blight. The isolate RS4 was found to be highly virulent with 78% disease incidence. Precise identification of cause of disease based on morphological characters and symptoms induced by Rhizoctonia sp. becomes tedious because of similarity in symptoms. The identification of isolates at genus and species level using molecular markers for genetic differentiation would be an ideal approach. The isolate RS4 showed 99 % homology with R. solani AG1-IA based on nucleotide sequence data for ITS region. | Morphological and molecular characterization of Rhizoctonia Solani causing sheath blight in rice
