FIGURE 1.

Blast infection causes stunted growth of rice seedlings. (A) Images of mock control (left) and blast-infected (right) rice seedlings. Rice seedlings at the four-leaf stage were inoculated with blast fungus M. oryzae (race 007.0), and the photograph was taken at 12-dpi. Numbers indicate leaf positions counted from shoot base. (B) Lengths of leaf blades (upper column) and leaf sheathes (bottom column) of fifth to seventh leaves, measured at 5 weeks post inoculation (5 wpi). Values are the means ± standard errors; the asterisks indicate significant difference from the mock control plants (t-test, ^∗ indicates P < 0.01).