Twelve leaves per seedling and 3 to 4 seedlings per accession were inoculated. Control plants were inoculated with sterile distilled water. Fifteen days after incubation in the greenhouse (27 ± 5°C), inoculated leaves exhibited typical bacterial leaf blight lesions, whereas control plants remained symptomless. The reisolated bacteria from diseased leaves yielded colonies that had the same morphology as ABB1, and were confirmed to be X. oryzae pv. oryzae via multiplex PCR and sequence analysis of the gyrB gene portion, fulfilling Koch’s postulates