Rice is globally a major food crop and its production has progressively been affected by various types of abiotic stresses especially drought, flooding, salinity, heat and cold in most of the cultivable rice ecosystems. The incidence, intensity and duration of these stresses are anticipated to aggravate due to climate change consequences, demanding resilient yields in these situations to be essential. Present paper deals with reviewing various types of abiotic stresses and their mitigation strategies for enhancing and stabilizing rice production in stress prone areas. Review of available literature pertaining to the study area has been used as research methodology for this paper. The available literature suggests that stress-tolerant varieties can serve as the most viable strategy to contribute in coping with the problem of abiotic stresses. Although, good progress has been made in the development of stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) and incessant efforts are being made to spread these varieties in target areas, adoption by farmers is yet to meet expectations. Advantage, affordability, awareness and availability are the main factors responsible for adopting of any technology. The adoption of stress-tolerant varieties has not reached its potential, predominantly due to the lack of awareness and non-availability of seeds amongst farmers. Strategic and intentional collaborations should be ensured for scaling the sustainable delivery and diffusion of STRVs. A promotional roadmap that ensures the linkages between private and public seed sectors remains the key factor for its successful adoption. Similarly, strengthening of formal, informal and semi-formal seed systems is crucial to accelerate the dissemination of these varieties. There is an imperative need to create strategic plans for the development of varieties possessing multiple stress tolerance. Significant investments for sustainability of rice production in stress prone areas form the essential component of long-term agricultural development. The sooner these investments and strategies are accomplished, the greater the gains are expected.

Trichoderma is the most commonly used fungal biocontrol agent throughout the world. In the present study, various Trichoderma isolates were isolated from different vegetable fields. In the isolated microflora, the colony edges varied from wavy to smooth. The mycelial forms were predominantly floccose with hyaline color and conidiophores among all the strains were highly branched. Based on morphological attributes, all the isolates were identified as Trichoderma harzianum. The molecular identification using multilocus sequencing ITS, rpb2 and tef1α, genes further confirmed the morphological identification. The average chitinase activity varied from 1.13 units/mL to 3.38 units/mL among the various isolates, which increased linearly with temperature from 15 to 30 °C. There was an amplified production in the chitinase production in the presence of Mg⁺ and Ca²⁺ and Na⁺ metal ions, but the presence of certain ions was found to cause the down-regulated chitinase activity, i.e., Zn²⁺, Hg²⁺, Fe²⁺, Ag⁺ and K⁺. All the chitinase producing Trichoderma isolates inhibited the growth of tested pathogens viz., Dematophora necatrix, Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Pythium aphanidermatum at 25% culture-free filtrate concentration under in vitro conditions. Also, under in vivo conditions, the lowest wilt incidence and highest disease control on Fusarium oxysporum was observed in isolate BT4 with mean wilt incidence and disease control of 21% and 48%, respectively. The Trichoderma harzianum identified in this study will be further used in formulation development for the management of diseases under field conditions.

Rice blast is considered one of the most important fungal diseases of rice. Although diseases can be managed by using resistant cultivars, the blast pathogen has successfully overcome the single gene resistance in a short period and rendered several varieties susceptible to blast which were otherwise intended to be resistant. As such, chemical control is still the most efficient method of disease control for reducing the losses caused due to diseases. Field experiments were conducted over two successive years, 2018 and 2019, in temperate rice growing areas in northern India. All the fungicides effectively reduced leaf blast incidence and intensity, and neck blast incidence under field conditions. Tricyclazole proved most effective against rice blast and recorded a leaf blast incidence of only 8.41%. Among the combinations of fungicides, azoxystrobin + difenoconazole and azoxystrobin + tebuconazole were highly effective, recording a leaf blast incidence of 9.19 and 10.40%, respectively. The chemical combination mancozeb + carbendazim proved less effective in controlling the blast and it recorded a disease incidence of 27.61%. A similar trend was followed in neck blast incidence with tricyclazole, azoxystrobin + difenoconazole, and azoxystrobin + tebuconazole showing the highest levels of blast reductions. It is evident from the current study that the tested fungicide combinations can be used as alternatives to tricyclazole which is facing the challenges of fungicide resistance development and other environmental concerns and has been banned from use in India and other countries. The manuscript may provide a guideline of fungicide application to farmers cultivating susceptible varieties of rice.

Wheat is highly affected by stripe rust disease, particularly under cooler environments, and the losses can reach up to 100 percent depending on the intensity of infection and the susceptibility of the genotype. The most effective method to manage this disease is the use of resistant varieties. In the present study, 192 wheat genotypes were evaluated for stripe rust resistance under field conditions and also in a laboratory using molecular markers. These lines included pre-breeding germplasm developed for rust resistance and some high-yielding commercially grown wheat varieties. Out of 192 genotypes, 53 were found to be resistant, and 29 showed moderate resistance reaction under field conditions, whereas the remaining genotypes were all either moderately susceptible or susceptible. Under controlled conditions, out of 109 genotypes, only 12 were found to be resistant to all the six virulent/pathogenic pathotypes. Additionally, a selection of 97 genotypes were found resistant in field screening and were subjected to molecular validation using the markers linked to major R-genes, viz., Yr5, Yr10, Yr15 and Yr17. Nine genotypes possessed the Yr5 gene, twelve had the Yr10 gene, fourteen had the Yr15 gene and thirty-two had the Yr17 gene. The resistance genes studied in the current study are effective in conferring resistance against stripe rust disease. The genotypes identified as resistant under both field and controlled conditions can be used as sources in stripe rust resistance breeding programs.

Sheath rot is one of the most destructive emerging diseases of rice in Asia and a significant loss (20–85%) to rice production is caused by this disease under temperate agro-climatic conditions of Kashmir. Disease is more prevalent in higher belts of valley where Japonica rice cultivation is more common. Also, late-maturing varieties are more likely to be attacked by sheath rot disease of rice. Information regarding the occurrence and distribution of any pathogen and its variability in the field is very much essential to devise a suitable disease management programme against the particular pathogen. The isolates of Sarocladium oryzae tested in the present study exhibited considerable variation in cultural characteristics, morphology and pathogenicity. The resistant sources for sheath rot disease of rice were identified among the temperate germplasm of rice under a relatively high inoculum concentration and disease pressure of all the variable isolates of S. oryzae. Among 219 rice genotypes screened for resistance against S. oryzae under field conditions, 42 genotypes were further evaluated under controlled epiphytotic conditions against all the 18 isolates of S. oryzae. Four genotypes (SKUA-354, ORN-V4, GS-183, GS357) were finally selected with high resistance against sheath rot disease of rice which can be utilized as potential donors for the development of disease-resistant varieties of rice against sheath rot.

In August 2020 powdery mildew was observed on pear cv. Fertility at the University research field in Shalimar, Srinagar (J&K), India (34° 08' 30.5'' N and 74° 51' 42.0'' E) with a disease incidence...