Climatic drivers for assessment of false smut risk in rice ecosystems: A guide for planning effective management trials.

Emergence of false smut (RFS) in rice agroecosystems is causing significant yield losses due to its direct impact on grains. To assess the factors associated with host-pathogen interaction, maximum entropy principle is used to identify bioclimatic variables behind the geo-spatial distribution patterns of RFS. Bioclimatic variables with ecological significance, derived from the monthly temperature and precipitation, such as precipitation in the wettest month, mean temperature of the warmest quarter and precipitation seasonality are linked to the occurrence of the disease.