Cultural and morphological variability of Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) sacc isolates from major rice growing areas of Telangana state, India

Rice blast caused by Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) Sacc. became one of the most important disease in rice growing areas of Telangana State because of its wide distribution and destructiveness under favourable conditions. However, sometimes resistant varieties may become ineffective due to evolutionary changes in the pathogen population. Keeping in view the importance of disease, studies were conducted on cultural and morphological variability of P. grisea isolates. Blast infected samples were collected from different locations of Telangana State were studied for radial growth, colony color, growth pattern, texture of colony, sectoring, zonation and wrinkles formation, dry mycelial weight, time of sporulation and sporulation index.