There is suf?cient need to document all the available data on biological control of rice diseases in a small volume. Part of this need rests on the global importance of rice to human life. In the ?rst chapter, I have tried to show that rice is indeed life for most people in Asia and shortages in production and availability can lead to a food crisis. While rice is cultivated in most continents, biological disease management attains special relevance to rice farmers of Africa, Asia, and also perhaps, Latin America. These farmers are resource-poor and might not be able to afford the cost of expensive chemical treatments to control devastating rice pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae (blast), Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (bacterial leaf blight), Rhizoctonia solani (sheath blight) and the virus, rice tungro disease. In an earlier volume that I developed under the title, Biological Control of Crop Diseases (Dekker/CRC Publishers, 2002), I included transgenic crops generated for the management of plant pathogens as biological control under the umbrella of a broad de?nition. Dr Jim Cook who wrote the Foreword for the volume lauded the inclusion of transgenic crops and induced systemic resistance (ISR) as a positive trend toward acceptance of host plant resistance as part of biocontrol. I continue to subscribe to this view.

Virus and MLO diseases; Bacterial diseases; Fungus diseases - foliage diseases; Fungus diseases - diseases of stem, leaf sheath and root; Fungus diseases - seedling diseases; Fungus diseases - diseases of grain and inflorescence; Diseases caused by nematodes; Physiological diseases.

Major Fungal Diseases of Rice: Recent Advances provides a comprehensive overview of latest research in rice fungal pathology. There are 25 chapters dealing with the blast, sheath blight, sheath rot, brown spot and scald diseases of rice as well as some broader topics. The book covers recent progress in a number of key fundamental aspects such as pathogenicity, pathogen diversity, molecular characterisation, gene cloning, genetics of host resistance and host-pathogen interactions. It also presents the current status and perspectives in strategic and applied areas such as epidemiology, resistance breeding, biological control, induced resistance, seed-borne diseases and quarantine issues and disease management strategies. This book is essential for rice researchers, pathologists and breeders and will also be suitable for cereal and plant pathologists in general, as there is an extensive coverage of recent research advances in rice blast, a model system in plant pathology.

Rice blast, caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe grisea, is one of the most destructive rice diseases worldwide and destroys enough rice to feed more than 60 million people annually. Due to high variability of the fungal population in the field, frequent loss of resistance of newly-released rice cultivars is a major restraint in sustainable rice production. In the last few years, significant progress has been made in understanding the defense mechanism of rice and pathogenicity of the fungus. The rice blast system has become a model pathosystem for understanding the molecular basis of plant-fungal interactions due to the availability of both genomes of rice and M. grisea and a large collection of genetic resources. This book provides a complete review of the recent progress and achievements on genetic, genomic and disease control of the disease. Most of the chapters were presented at the 4th International Rice Blast Conference held on October 9-14, 2007 in Changsha, China. This book is a valuable reference not only for plant pathologists and breeders working on rice blast but also for those working on other pathysystems in crop plants.

Biotic diseases. Bacterial diseases. Seedling, sheath, and grain diseases. Seedling diseases. Leaf sheath and grain diseases. Foliar diseases. Culm and root diseases. Fungal diseases. Seedling diseases. Foliar diseases. Leaf sheath and culm diseases. Root and crown diseases. Grain diseases. Obscure fungal diseases of the foliage and glumes. Diseases caused by viruses and mycoplasmalike organisms. Virus diseases. Diseases caused by mycoplasmalike organisms. Diseases caused by viruslike agents. Diseases caused by nematodes. Abiotic diseases and disorders. Nutrient deficiencies and toxicities.

Rice is a staple food for half of the worlds population mostly in Asia. Productivity of rice has largely been improved since the Green Revolution in 1960s. Further improvement of rice yield is necessary to keep pace with population growth, which is a challenging task for breeders. This book, Rice - Germplasm, Genetics and Improvement, as its name implies, comprehensively reviews current knowledge in germplasm exploration, genetic basis of complex traits, and molecular breeding strategies in rice. In the germplasm part, we highlight the application of wild rice in rice breeding. In the genetics part, most of the complex traits related with yield, disease, quality have been covered. In the improvement part, Chinese experiences in hybrid rice breeding have been summarized together with many molecular breeding practices scattering in different chapters.

This book addresses aspects of rice production in rice-growing areas of the world including origin, history, role in global food security, cropping systems, management practices, production systems, cultivars, as well as fertilizer and pest management. As one of the three most important grain crops that helps to fulfill food needs all across the globe, rice plays a key role in the current and future food security of the world. Currently, no book covers all aspects of rice production in the rice-growing areas of world. This book fills that gap by highlighting the diverse production and management practices as well as the various rice genotypes in the salient, rice-producing areas in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Australia. Further, this text highlights harvesting, threshing, processing, yields and rice products and future research needs. Supplemented with illustrations and tables, this text is essential for students taking courses in agronomy and production systems as well as for agricultural advisers, county agents, extension specialists, and professionals throughout the industry.

Seed health testing assures the safe movement of seed of different crops, for research or trade. It is premised on the hypothesis that many harmful organisms are carried by and moved with the seed which have the potential to harm crops. This text provides details of rice seed-borne fungi.