Spatiotemporal Survey of Multiple Rice Diseases in Irrigated Areas Compared to Rainfed Lowlands in the Western Burkina Faso

Multiple constraints affect rice yields and global production in West Africa. Among these constraints are viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens. We aimed to describe the spatiotemporal patterns of occurrence and incidence of multiple rice diseases in farmers’ fields in contrasting rice growing systems in western Burkina Faso. For this purpose, we selected a set of three pairs of sites, each comprising an irrigated area and a neighboring rainfed lowland, and studied them over four consecutive years. We first performed interviews with the rice farmers to better characterize the management practices at the different sites. This study revealed that the transplanting of rice and the possibility of growing rice twice a year are restricted to irrigated areas, while other practices, such as the use of registered rice cultivars, fertilization and pesticides, are not specific but differ between the two rice growing systems. Then, we performed symptom observations at these study sites to monitor the following four diseases: yellow mottle disease, Bacterial Leaf Streak (BLS), rice leaf blast and brown spot. The infection rates were found to be higher in irrigated areas than in rainfed lowlands, both when analyzing all observed symptoms together (any of the four diseases) and when specifically considering each of the two diseases: BLS and rice leaf blast. Brown spot was particularly prevalent in all six study sites, while yellow mottle disease was particularly structured geographically. Various diseases were frequently found together in the same field (co-occurrence) or even on the same plant (coinfection), especially in irrigated areas.