ABSTRACT
Blast disease caused by Pyricularia oryzae, is the most important disease of rice in Egypt and in the world. Field surveys in main production regions, revealed that the highest disease incidence was recorded in El-Behera Governorate. Seven rice cultivars were screened for resistance to blast disease. Resistance to disease was studied under both artificially and naturally with local pathogen. A bioassay was developed based on (0-9) scale, Area Under the Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC), disease area and sporulation. Differential expression to pathogen was observed between cultivars. Among seven cultivars, Sakha 101 and Sakha 103 were highly resistant and Giza 175 and Giza 178 were highly susceptible to three strains of fungus P. oryzae. Meanwhile other lines showed moderate resistance and susceptible. At the same time there were great differences concerning the growth rate and yield between different rice cultivars.