• Muhammad Ashfaq

• Iqra Saleem

• Muhammad Saleem Haider

• Muhammad Ali

• Javed Iqbal Watto

• Muhammad Shafiq

• Shahbaz Ahmad

• Muhammad Asrar

• Abdul Rasheed

• Umair Ali

• Muhammad Sajjad

• Urooj Mubashar

Abstract

Rice blast disease has a potential threat to rice crop and causes huge yield losses in Pakistan and other regions of the World. Field trials were conducted and fifty diverse genotypes were screened under normal field conditions. The crop was subjected to artificial inoculation of Magnaporthe oryzae 0.5mL of each plant under field condition for assessment of varying degree of resistance or susceptibility. Phenotypic data was also recorded for seed phenotypic traits. To validate phenotypic screening molecular markers were used to check the presence of blast resistance gene. Map constructed using ArcGIS software exhibits the features of disease and its progress. During the year 2013 maximum disease incidence (40%) was found in Mandi Bahaudin. While during the year 2014 Kamalia was the most affected area with an incidence of 24 %. Visual scoring in field revealed that one out of 50 varieties was highly resistant and one was resistant. Similarly disease resistance markers were used to screen out the resistant genotypes i.e. Rondo and Bomba against blast disease. These two resistant genotypes may be very useful for the development of new plant population to minimize the severity of the disease and helpful for strengthen the economy of the country.

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