7.1 Rice insect pests
- Common insects are grasshoppers (bwanoni), short fly and army worm, rice keeper, mole cricket, ant and armyworm.
- Control by early sowing, maintaining, weed-free, applying carbarbly, cypermetrine, and fenitrothhion
7.2 Rice diseases
7.2.1. Sheath Blight
- Symptoms are observed from tillering to milk stage
- In intensified rice production systems it causes a yield loss of 6%
7.2.2. Can be managed by
- Plant resistant varieties, avoid planting infected seed and applying mancozeb and carbendazim
7.2.3. Bacterila blight
- affects rice at seedling stage
- Symptoms: infected leaves turn grayish green and roll up
- In adverse conditions leaves turn yellow to straw-colored and wilt leading whole seedlings to dry up and die
7.2.4. Can be managed by
- The disease is treated by nitrogen fertilizers
7.2.5. Rice blast
- The disease is common in Nkhata Bay
- Symptoms; it produces so may pathogenic races which tend to differ in terms of varieties Fig 4: Rice blast
7.2.6. Can be managed by
- It can best be controlled by planting resistant varieties
7.2.7. Sheath rot
- It is caused by virus and identified
- Symptoms it is observed by rotted growing panicle being incompletely exerted with numerous empty grains
7.2.8. Can be managed by
- The disease can be managed by planting resistant varieties
- To eradicate seed-borne pathogens use mancozeb an benomyl for seed treatment
7.2.9. Yellow Mottle Virus (RYMV)
- It is caused by a virus
- Symptoms: stunted plants, and reduced tillering, mottling, yellowish streaking of leaves, malformation and panicle partial emergency, Severe infected by plats die
7.2.10. Can be managed by
- Planting Resistant varieties
