Lesion-based analysis of leaf blast suppression in mixture of rice cultivar and a resistant near-isogenic line

Leaf blast suppression in multilines was evaluated based on the number of susceptible lesions observed in a pure stand of susceptible rice cultivar Sasanishiki, and in 1 : 1 and 1 : 3 mixtures of Sasanishiki and a resistant near-isogenic line, Sasanishiki BL4 or BL7, from 1998 to 2001. The number of lesions first observed in fields in the 1 : 1 and 1 : 3 mixtures were close to theoretical numbers calculated using the number of lesions observed in the pure stands and the ratios of the susceptible Sasanishiki in the mixtures. The ratio of the number of lesions in the 1 : 1 and 1 : 3 mixtures to the number in the pure stand was 0.29 and 0.09, respectively. The relationship between these ratios and the ratios of susceptible Sasanishiki in mixtures was defined in an equation to estimate the degree of leaf blast suppression. Validation studies for the ratios of the number of lesions in the 1 : 1 and 1 : 3 mixtures to the number in the pure stand were conducted in two different locations and showed that the ratios are almost acceptable. The calculated autoinfection to alloinfection ratio was 1.3 and 1.4 in the 1 : 1 and 1 : 3 mixtures, respectively, suggesting that the calculated ratio will affect the degree of leaf blast suppression. Thus, predictors were obtained to estimate leaf blast suppression for effective blast control in multilines.