Isolation and Morphological Characterization of Rice Blast Pathogen in Northern Ghana

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the second most important cereal food crop in Ghana. Domestic production of rice yields is low and Ghana produces only 30% of local demand. Rice blast has been the main constraint limiting local rice production in Ghana. The aim of this research was to isolate and morphologically characterize rice blast pathogen isolates obtained from Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions of Ghana. In all, twenty-seven isolates were isolated and characterized morphologically on the basis of colony characters (colony color, surface texture, aerial mycelium, margin and size of the growing mycelium) and confirmed by microscopic examination of the conidia and conidiophores of the isolates. The colony color of the 27 isolates varied greatly from grey, light grey, black with thick cottony mass, grayish with white cottony mass, greenish, white, black and to creamy. The conidia of the isolates under 40x of the light microscope showed an oval shape, narrowed apex with 2 – 3 septate with long slender branched and unbranched conidiophore. Keywords: Rice Blast, Rice, Potato Dextrose Agar, Rice Blast Isolate