Current status and intervention in sheath blight disease resistance in rice through conventional, molecular, and transgenic approaches

Sheath blight (ShB) of rice, caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn (teleomorph Thanatephorus cucumeris [Frank] Donk), is now one of a very serious diseases in rice-growing countries. We reviewed the occurrence and spread of this disease on the different hosts; however, a brief discussion was made only on rice. The taxonomy of R. solani, classification of the pathogen, and strategies for disease management are briefly described in their host. Presently sheath blight disease is controlled by synthetic chemicals, however, this may create a problem in environments. Resistance variety is best option for the control of this disease, though only little/moderate resistance has been reported in few wild cultivars and in cultivated rice genotypes namely Jasmine 85, Tatep, and Tequing etc. High level of resistance against ShB have been conveyed in the developed transgenic rice stains. Identification and molecular characterization of resistance QTLs in the promising lines of rice will be a grateful effort for the further transfer in the high yielding varieties of rice to achieve the ShB resistance in future. To successfully mitigate the impact of sheath blight on rice production, it is crucial that we understand the barriers and advancements in sheath blight pathogen, their broad host range and management strategies under field condition. The present review primarily concentrates on the effort to improve findings related to the important gene loci, their related markers and transgenic development in different rice cultivars.