Rice diseases and their control in Japan

Abstract

Despite a significant decrease over the past decade in the area cultivated for rice, Japanese farmers have maintained production at more than 13 million tonnes per annum. However, the practice of raising seedlings in boxes in polythene houses has led to the development of new seedling diseases. These, and the familiar field diseases ‘blast’, sheath and leaf blights are contained by a variety of fungicides developed in Japan and increasingly applied ultra-low volume or as granules.