Baseline Sensitivity and Control Efficacy of Two Quinone Outside Inhibitor Fungicides, Azoxystrobin and Pyraclostrobin, Against Ustilaginoidea virens.

Rice false smut caused by the filamentous fungus Ustilaginoidea virens is a devastating grain disease in rice. Fungicides have been an important measure for the control of this disease. In this study, baseline sensitivities of 179 isolates of U. virens to the quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides azoxystrobin and pyraclostrobin were established. The distribution of the 50% effective concentration (EC50) values of each fungicide was unimodal. The frequency distribution of logarithmically transformed EC50 values fit or fit closer to a normal distribution. The ranges of EC50 values for azoxystrobin and pyraclostrobin were 0.001 to 0.864 and 0.001 to 0.569 µg/ml, with means and standard errors of the mean values of 0.203 ± 0.012 and 0.079 ± 0.006 µg/ml, respectively. There was a statistically significant and moderately positive correlation (n = 100, r = 0.469, P = 0.001) in sensitivity between these two fungicides. No cross-resistance was found between azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, and carbendazim or sterol demethylation inhibitor fungicides. Each fungicide had a significantly higher mean preventive efficacy compared with its curative efficacy. Field assays showed that the control efficacy of pyraclostrobin against rice false smut was greater than that of azoxystrobin. Pyraclostrobin had the best control of rice false smut in three rice varieties, with the control efficacy ranging from 81.5 to 95.5%, whereas azoxystrobin decreased the disease index by 64.1 to 69.2% under the same conditions. These results provide us a reference point in the management of U. virens and future QoI fungicide resistance monitoring programs.

[Effects of wheat-straw returning into paddy soil on dissolved organic carbon contents and rice grain yield].

A tank experiment using conventional rice cultivar Nanjing 44 as experimental material was conducted at the Experimental Farm of Yangzhou University to investigate the dynamics of wheat straw decomposition rate and the amount of carbon release in clay and sandy soils, as well as its effects on the content of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and rice yield. The two rates of wheat straw returning were 0 and 6000 kg · hm(-2), and three N application levels were 0, 225, 300 kg · hm(-2). The results showed that, the rate of wheat straw decomposition and the amount of carbon release in clay and sandy soils were highest during the initial 30 days after wheat straw returning, and then slowed down after, which could be promoted by a higher level of nitrogen application. The rate of wheat straw decomposition and the amount of carbon release in clay soil were higher than that in sandy soil. The DOC content in soil increased gradually with wheat straw returning into paddy soil and at the twenty-fifth day, and then decreased gradually to a stable value. The DOC content at the soil depth of 15 cm was significantly increased by wheat straw returning, but not at the soil depth of 30 cm and 45 cm. It was concluded that wheat straw returning increased the DOC content in the soil depth of 0-15 cm mainly. N application decreased the DOC content and there was no difference between the two N application levels. Straw returning decreased the number of tillers in the early growth period, resulted in significantly reduced panicles per unit area, but increased spikelets per panicle, filled-grain percentages, 1000-grain mass, and then enhanced grain yield.

[Response of yield, quality and nitrogen use efficiency to nitrogen fertilizer from mechanical transplanting super japonica rice].

Five super japonica rice cultivars were grown by mechanical transplanting in field and seven N treatments with total N application rate of 0, 150, 187.5, 225, 262.5, 300 and 337.5 kg x hm(-2) respectively were adopted to study the effects of N rate on rice yield, quality and N use efficiency. The differences between N requirement for obtaining the highest yield and for achieving the best economic benefit were compared. With the increase of N fertilizer rate, the yields of five super japonica rice cultivars increased firstly and then descended, achieving the highest yield at the N level of 300 kg x hm(-2) ranging from 10.33-10.60 kg x hm(-2). Yield increase mainly attributed to the large number of spikelet, for the total spikelet number of each rice cultivar reached the maximum value at the 300 kg x hm(-2) N level. With the increase of N application, the rates of brown rice, milled rice, head milled rice and the protein content of the five super japonica rice cultivars were all increased, and the rates of brown rice, milled rice, head milled rice and the protein con- tent were higher at 337.5 kg x hm(-2) N level than at 0 kg x hm(-2) N level by 3.3%-4.2%, 2.9%-6.0%, 4.4%-33.7% and 23.8%-44.3%, respectively. While the amylose content, gel consistency and taste value of the five rice cultivars were all decreased, and the amylose content, gel consistency and taste value were lower at 337.5 kg x hm(-2) N level than at 0 kg x hm(-2) N level by 12.4%-38.9%, 10.3%-28.5% and 20.3%-29.7%, respectively. The chalkiness increased firstly and then decreased while the change of chalky rate varied with the cultivars. With the increase of N application, the N use efficiency, agronomic N use efficiency and physiological N use efficiency decreased while the N uptake of grain increased significantly. If the cost of N fertilizer was taken into account, the N fertilizer amount to obtain the optimal economic benefits would be 275.68 kg x hm(-2) with the corresponding yield of 9.97 t x hm(-2). Therefore, in the existing super rice production, classified management of N fertilizer would be required to meet differentiated demands of high yield, good quality, high efficiency, low N fertilizer input and so on.

[Silicon application enhances resistance to sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani) in rice].

The enhancing resistance and decreasing incidence to sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani) by silicon were studied from cytological and physiological aspects by using rice plants solution-cultured with silicon supplementation or with silicon-deficiency. By an environmental scanning electron coupled with X-ray microanalysis, as well as gravimetric quantification, the number of siliceous cell and Si content of the Si(+) rice leaf were much more than those of Si(-) rice leaf (Figs.1,2; Table 1). After being inoculated with R. solani MDA content in Si(+) rice plants was almost higher than that in Si(-) rice plants, SOD activity in Si(+) rice plants was always higher than that in Si(-) rice plants, SOD activity in Si(+) rice plants reached a minimum on 4 d, and POD activity was at the maximum, but POD activity in Si(-) rice plants was lower. These results suggested that silicon could enhance the harmony of SOD and POD. And silicon had no effect on CAT and PAL activity, but weaken PPO activity (Fig.3). After being inoculated with R. solani, the Si(+) rice plants had significantly lower disease index with relative control effect of 1/4 compared to the Si(-) rice plants (Table 2).