Several varietal screening methods were tested along with dipping dry seeds into millipore membrane
filtrate of spore suspension of the pathogen and gibberellic acid (GA3) in different concentrations. It was
found that GA3 can be used to screen out susceptible rice varieties against bakanae disease. The method
which requires the use of GA3 is easier than the other methods for mass screening as it does not require
maintaining living culture of the pathogen. The protocol of inoculum free varietal screening method for
bakanae disease of rice was developed to find out resistant varieties from the huge collections of germplasm
bank.
In Bangladesh, rice
occupies about 80% of the total cropped area and about 92% of the total food grains produced in
the country