**1. Introduction**

As the theme "Rice is life" reflects, Rice *(Oryza sativa* L.) is the single most important staple food crop for more than one-third of the world's population and more than half of the population India. Rice is grown in a wide range of

agro-ecological conditions in India. Rice provides 21% of global human per capita energy and 15% per capita protein [1]. Amongst the important rice-producing nations in the world, India ranks second in terms of area and production. Out of 782 million tons (mt) of global rice production from 167.1 million hectares (m ha), India produced 116.42 m t in 44.5 m ha (rainy season: 102.13 m t from 39.27 m ha) [2]. For food insecurity to recede, agricultural production on currently cultivated land will increase by 70% globally and 100% in the developing countries by 2050 [3]. Of the various biotic factors limiting rice production and productivity, diseases continue to be an enigmatic problem in several rice-growing ecosystems of the world's tropical and temperate regions. The annual losses due to rice diseases are estimated to be 10–15% on an average basis worldwide. Rice blast fungus infects host plants at various crop growth stages, including leaf, stem, neck, collar, node, and root. The biggest challenge for rice breeders is the breakdown of resistance in existing rice varieties over the years. Therefore, breeding durable and broad-spectrum resistant cultivars is again a challenging task. The broad host range, continuous genetic variation, evolution, and host shifts are the main reasons behind the emergence of virulent pathotypes of *Magnaporthe*, which make blast management a daunting task. Hence, the Rice-*Magnaporthe* interaction pathosystem emerged as a model system to study host-pathogen interaction for several reasons, including the economic importance of blast disease in rice production and human diet.
