Report on rice diseases in Brunei Darussalam and their association with airborne fungal spores
摘要
Rice diseases in Brunei Darussalam have not been properly documented. Thus, this study compiled all the types of rice diseases that were documented by the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood (DoAA) in Brunei from 1984 until 2021. This study also conducted brief rice disease inspections at the Wasan paddy field in 2022 and 2023 (4.7884° N, 114.8221° E). Bioaerosol samples were collected using a Hirst-type volumetric sampler throughout the growing season of paddy. The most frequently documented rice diseases in Brunei were leaf spot (frequency of detection 23%), grain discolouration (19%), rice blast (17%), and sheath blight (14%). During disease inspections, we found 15 different types of rice diseases observed including bacterial blight, bacterial streak, brown spot, false smut, grain discolouration, leaf scald, leaf spot, narrow brown spot, neck blast, panicle blast, rice blast, sheath blight, sheath rot, stem rot, and tungro virus. We identified 19 paddy pathogens (16 fungi and 3 bacteria) using morphological characterization and metabarcoding analysis in bioaerosol samples, where these pathogens are commonly known to cause certain types of rice diseases, and we found that these pathogens are associated with some of the observed rice diseases. Our findings provide insight into the role of bioaerosols in disease dissemination towards the paddy crop, so that proper disease management can potentially be employed.