A Simple Yet Robust Model for Estimating Yield Loss from Rice False Smut Disease

Rice False Smut (RFSm) is presently an internationallyimportant fugal disease of rice. While the Yield Loss (YL) from this disease isreported in many countries, there exists no tool to instantly estimate the YLby visual field inspection. This study developed a simple model, FLYER, for this purpose. The model is run by twoinputs: (i) fraction of productive but diseased tillers in a field and (ii)averaged number of smut balls present in the diseased panicles. FLYER wasdeveloped using data from Bangladesh, India and Japan. The driving algorithm ofthe model, the yield reduction in a diseased panicle as a function of number ofsmut balls present in the panicle, was validated with additional data fromBangladesh and Japan. When tested with independent data from fields infectednaturally by RFSm, FLYER closely estimated the yield loss (YL, %) againstobserved datasets from Bangladesh (Root Mean Squared Deviation (RMSD) =1.15% YL), Egypt (RMSD = 1.65% YL) and India (RMSD = 1.68% YL). Thismodel could contribute to rapid assessment of regional and variety-specificyield loss and strategic management of the disease on a field-by-field basis.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/agricultural-sciences/american-research-journal-of-agriculture/