Rice researchers to discuss how to tackle BB disease

Scientists and researchers from India and abroad will meet here for three days from tomorrow to discuss Bacterial Blight (BB), a serious disease which affects the rice crop world over.
The 4th International Conference on Bacterial Blight of rice is being jointly organised by CSIR, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), the Directorate of Rice Research (DRR) and the Society for Advancement of Rice Research.
The meeting will be held at CCMB premises here, CCMB Director Ch Mohan Rao told reporters today.
Bacterial blight is caused by the bacterial pathogen xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae (Xoo) and it results in yield losses of up to 50 per cent.

As effective chemicals are not available for controlling yield loss, development of a host plant (resistant) varieties is supposed to be the most effective way.
Stating that BB affects rice crop across the country, DRR Director B C Viraktamath said, "We must try to reduce the loss caused by this disease. It is a dangerous disease."

CCMB and DRR together have produced a variety called 'Improved Samba Masuri', which has already been appreciated by farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where BB is common.
"Our rice production, compared to 1950s and 2000s, has gone up by 350 per cent. Mind you, all this increase happened not because we increased agricultural land. Only 40 per cent of the extra area we covered for rice production. Yield has increased because of the newer research methods and technologies. We are second in rice production in the world," Rao said.

Rice scientists from the United States, China, France and the Philippines would be attending the conference.