Diseases
There are several diseases that attack rice and these are mainly caused by viruses, fungi or a bacterium which affect the rice and reduces the produce during harvesting. In order to control these diseases one needs to plant a more resistant type of rice and some of the diseases that attack rice include the red stripe which normally occurs during the reproductive stage and causes discoloring of the leaves.
Birds
These attack the plants either during their maturity days or when they are still during the milky stage. The examples of birds that normally eat the rice are the chestnut Munia and the Eurasian tree sparrow. These can be prevented by using cover nets over the rice or hire people to chase away the birds which is a bit expensive. But you can also spray the rice to keep them away or make scare crows.
Golden apple snail attack the rice from the irrigation system and they attack the rice in its early stages and destroy the whole plant from the stem. The golden apple snail is not like the normal snails as it has either a pink gold or brownish shell and its eggs are pink. They normally appear when the water is plenty and destroy the rice. Without the water they hibernate and wait until there is fresh water.
These can be controlled by hand picking the snails and burning them, spraying the rice and also allowing some predators like ants to eat off the eggs.
Root Nematodes
This affects the rice from the roots. It causes the roots to knot which limits the rice from getting the much needed nutrients and this leads to poor yields of rice being harvested at the end of the day due to limited nutrients.
The insects
Rice is attacked by insects mostly during its early stages and these include whorl maggots, worms and they end up eating the leaves. These can be prevented by spraying even though it’s not advisable to spray during the early stages of growth.
