**1. Introduction**

In the twentieth century, researchers around the globe focused on studying plant pathogens to develop effective pesticides and cultural practices. Since the late twentieth century, this focus has shifted to identifying resistant resources, effective resistance (*R*) genes, and deploying them in precision agricultural systems. Rice has been grown in the United States for over 300 years and is concentrated in the Southern US, including the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, and California. Among them, Arkansas is located in south-central USA at ~35° N latitude, 92° W longitude and produces ~50% of the total rice production in the USA. The total annual acreage of rice in the USA is presently about 1.5 million hectares, producing about 2% of the total world rice production. Rice is being consumed domestically and/or utilized as by-products. Recently, more rice is being consumed domestically, but the majority of rice produced in the USA is exported. As a result, the USA is one of the top exporting countries in the international market. Rice production in the USA has evolved to a highly mechanized, flood intensive irrigated system with the use of airplanes, tractors, computers, lasers, fertilizers,

and pesticides at its disposal. Yield per hectare is currently about 7.5 tons/hectare [1] and has been one of the top breeding priorities. Rice breeding programs in the USA are associated with private companies such as Rice Tech Inc., BASF, and major state university agriculture experiment stations, consisting of one or more rice breeders, pathologists, and other scientists. Additionally, the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS) has conducted research in Stuttgart, Arkansas, since 1931 [2]. Soon after the establishment of the USDA, ARS, Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center (DB NRRC, 1998), the molecular plant pathology program has been performing translational research to tackle the major constraints of rice production.
