Rice Variety Screening for Blast Control in Burkina Faso

Rice blast, caused by Maganporthe oryzae, is a fungal disease that causes enormous damage in rice fields in Burkina Faso. This study aimed to test the resistance of four rice varieties to this disease in a semi-controlled environment. The study was carried out over two consecutive years, 2022 and 2023, on the experimental site of the Institute for Research in Applied Sciences and Technologies in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The plant material was composed of KBR2, KBR4, KBR6 and KBR8 rice varieties. The fungal material used for the varietal resistance test was M. oryzae strain BF0201. It is a strain from Burkina Faso isolated from rice leaves collected at the Farakô-Bâ site. The choice of this strain was justified by its level of virulence. The experimental design used was a randomised block with three replications. The parameters assessed were leaf and panicle severity, leaf and panicle incidence, grain yield and percentage yield loss. The results showed that the KBR8 variety was moderately susceptible to blast with a mean of 48.77% of the leaf area affected over the two experimentation years. While the KBR2, KBR4 and KBR6 varieties were susceptible to leaf blast with a mean of the leaf area affected over the two experimentation years of 54.33%, 51.66% and 53.89% respectively. The KBR8 variety was moderately resistant to panicle blast with a mean severity of 24,07%. This variety recorded the highest grain yield (59.99 g/pot) and the lowest loss rate (9.14%) with a mean of leaf and panicle incidences of 64.33% and 39.86% respectively.This variety can be improved and used as a means of varietal control against rice blast in rice fields in Burkina Faso.