Rice Bacterial Leaf Blight in West Africa: Preliminary Studies on Disease in Farmers’ Fields and Screening Released Varieties for Resistance to the Bacteria

As little information is available in Africa on Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae, a highly destructive pathogen of rice, and its relationship with released rice varieties, a disease survey and samplings were carried out in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali which indicated a wide spread of Bacterial Leaf blight (BLB) in farmers’ fields. Sixty pure BLB isolates cultures were obtained. Pathogenecity of 4 Malian isolates against four important rice varieties revealed differences in pathogenecity among isolates and resistance of the varieties tested. The results obtained in these initial studies revealed the future research directions to increasing rice production in West Africa.