EMERGING DISEASE PROBLEMS IN KOREAN RICE AND THEIR ORIGINS

As the technology of rice production in Korea has rapidly developed and progressed over the last few years, many problems in rice production have been solved. But with the introduction of new genetic material, the increased use of pesticides, higher fertilizer rates and closer plantings, new problems are beginning to emerge. The brown plant hopper outbreak in 1975 resulted to a great extent from some of the changes in management practices. Some rice diseases and nutritional problems that have existed in Korea but have not been considered of serious consequence, are now becoming increasingly severe and possibly as limiting as the hopper outbreak in 1975. Other diseases and nutritional problems are completely new and their cause and significance have not yet been adequately defined. In this discussion there is no Intention to state, nor is there evidence to support a statement, that any of these problems are going to be limiting factors in the future production of rice on the Korean peninsula. Rather this is an attempt to bring together some of the current field problems in Korean rice so that they can be discussed and where necessary receive suitable consideration for research and control.