Rice Diseases

The fungal diseases of cultivated rice gathered under this group, led by rice blast, the single most destructive fungal disease of rice worldwide and one of the most studied plant pathogens in cereal genetics generally. Rice is grown under flooded paddy conditions unlike the dryland cultivation of wheat, barley or maize, and that distinct growing environment shapes a set of pathogens documented specifically against rice rather than shared broadly across cereal crops, which is why rice diseases are tracked separately here even though rice itself is a cereal grain.