Plant growth suppression due to sheath blight and the associated yield reduction under double rice-cropping system in central China

► Sheath blight causes rice plant growth suppression. ► High nitrogen application and dense planting facilitate the spread of rice sheath blight. ► Grain yield loss due to sheath blight is severer in early rice than in late rice. ► The yield loss with sheath blight is mainly due to the suppression in LAI and biomass production.