Advanced diagnostic approaches developed for the global menace of rice diseases: a review
Mohammad Malek Faizal Azizi, Han Yih Lau
Abstract
For centuries, rice has been the one of the most important crops worldwide; over 3.5 billion of the population relies on rice as one of the most essential staple foods. However, rice diseases are responsible for enormous global economic losses due to the damage they cause to rice crops. Major rice diseases such as bacterial leaf blight (BLB), rice blast, sheath blight (SB), bacterial panicle blight (BPB), and the rice tungro disease can contribute to a great reduction in rice yield annually. Therefore, the availability of sensitive and accurate diagnostic tools in plant disease detection is necessary to facilitate effective management practices. Traditional methods are not the best to deploy in plant disease detection, as they can be time-consuming and unreliable. Hence, the development of serological, molecular, image processing, and biosensor techniques provide important tools for accurate disease diagnosis and precise identification of plant pathogens. This review summarizes BLB, rice blast, SB, BPB, and rice tungro disease, and discusses valuable diagnostic approaches by outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each tool based on previous studies.