Introduction to Sheath Blight

History

Sheath blight was first described in Japan by Miyake in 1910, but was first noted by Yano in 1901. Reinking (1918) and Paolo (1926) found a very similar disease in the Philippines. Park and Bertus (1932) reported the disease in Sri Lanka and Wei (1934) in China.

Distribution and Occurrence

Rice sheath blight is a ubiquitous disease of rice. It occurs throughout the rice-growing areas in temperate, subtropical, and tropical countries. It is found in diverse rice production systems, whether upland, rainfed, or irrigated.