Species Concept in Sarocladium, the Causal Agent of Sheath Rot in Rice and Bamboo Blight

Sarocladium is a genus of hyphomycetes resembling Verticillium and Gliocladium. It is the causal organism of sheath rot of rice and blight in bamboo. Sarocladium oryzae was once considered to be a minor disease of rice, but is becoming increasingly destructive and widely distributed. It infects rice plants at various stages of growth, entering through stomata or wounds, but is most destructive after booting, and frequently associated with the presence of insect damage or Pseudomonas infection. The management of sheath rot of rice by cultural, biological, and chemical methods has been reviewed (Ramabadran et al., 1990), although no effective control methods are currently available, seed treatment with fungicides such as Dithane M-45 and Benlate effectively eliminates seedborne inocula.