Nearly 250 hectares of spring rice in Nghe An infected with rice blast disease

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Quy's family in hamlet 6A, Hung Dao commune, Hung Nguyen has 4 sao of rice, but more than a week ago, almost the entire area was infected with rice blast disease. "In the hamlet, many households have rice fields with a lot of rice blast disease, most of which are planted with P6 variety; some fields are severely affected, the rice fields look yellow," Mrs. Quy said. After more than a week of spraying, up to now, the disease on her family's fields has improved, the rice plants are less yellow. However, in a few days, she will continue to spray again for the second time. "We have to spray carefully, otherwise the disease will not be completely gone, in about a month, the rice will form panicles and bloom, it is susceptible to neck blast disease, it is very dangerous," Mrs. Quy shared.

Every day, Ms. Quy still goes to the field to check the rice blast disease situation to continue spraying for the second time. Photo: Phu Huong

Nearby, while spraying herbicide, Ms. Pham Thi Thu carefully checked the field to see if there were any signs of rice blast disease. “My family has 2.5 sao of rice, and up to today, there has been no sign of rice blast, but many fields around here are infected, so I am very worried. I have to go out to the fields every day to check,” Ms. Thu said.

For several weeks now, in addition to Hung Dao commune, rice blast disease has also appeared in the spring rice fields of several communes in Hung Nguyen district.

Mr. Le Viet Hung, District Agricultural Service Center said: Although this year the rate of spread is quite slow, the area of ​​rice infected with blast disease is not as large as in previous years, due to the prolonged cold weather, the rice plants grow poorly, but now the weather is gradually warming up, humidity is increasing, and there is a lot of fog, which are ideal conditions for the disease to arise and cause serious damage. Therefore, Hung Nguyen has been focusing on checking and closely monitoring, so that if the disease appears, it will be handled immediately, thoroughly prevented, and prevented from spreading and causing damage on a large scale.

Hung Nguyen farmers focus on preventing leaf blast disease on spring rice. Photo: Phu Huong

In Yen Thanh, leaf blast disease appeared on TBR225, Thai Xuyen 111, glutinous rice, AC5 varieties, concentrated in Ma Thanh, Phuc Thanh, Van Thanh, Tang Thanh, Xuan Thanh, Dong Thanh communes, with a total infected area of ​​nearly 150 hectares.

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong, Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, said: We assigned the Department of Agriculture and the District Agricultural Service Center to closely monitor the area, investigate, classify, divide, and delimit areas to have appropriate treatment measures. The guiding principle is not to spray simultaneously over a large area, but only spray in areas that have reached the prevention threshold; in areas with concentrated and large-scale infections, use spraying aircraft to achieve higher prevention efficiency.

Rice fields infected with rice blast disease. Photo: Phu Huong

This spring crop, Nghe An planted over 91,000 hectares of rice, currently the rice fields are in the period of intensive tillering to the end of tillering. On the rice fields, especially the rice fields planted before Tet, leaf blast disease has occurred and caused damage in some areas and is on the rise.

By March 7, the whole province had nearly 250 hectares infected with leaf blast, of which the most was in Yen Thanh district with nearly 150 hectares, Hung Nguyen with more than 40 hectares, the rest were scattered in Con Cuong, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau districts; mainly on varieties TBR 225, Xi33. P6, Thai Xuyen 111, AC5...

According to Mr. Trinh Thach Lam, Head of Plant Protection Department, Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection of the province, it is forecasted that in the coming time, warm weather conditions, alternating cold air waves causing rain, high air humidity, early morning fog combined with top dressing,... are very favorable conditions for leaf blast disease to arise, spread and cause serious damage over a large area, especially on annual varieties with high infection levels such as: Xi33, P6, material NA6, Thai Xuyen 111, AC5, BC15, TBR 225, Nep 352, Thien Uu 8, Huong Uu 98,... and on land areas that are often seriously damaged by the disease every year, areas with unbalanced fertilization, and excess nitrogen fertilization.