Evaluation of Seed Treating Chemicals against Seed-Borne Fungi on Germinating Wheat Seed

Abstract

Seed-borne pathogens of wheat play a vital role in causing plant diseases and constraining wheat productivity in Bangladesh. An experiment was conducted to evaluate four seed-treating chemicals, namely Knowin 50 WP, Sunvit 50 WP, Neuben 72 WP, and Tilt 250 EC, against wheat seed-borne fungi in the Plant Protection Laboratory, Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh, during the period from January 2021 to October 2021. The experiment was carried out to detect the seed-borne fungi associated with two wheat varieties and to determine the efficacy of fungicides in controlling those fungi. Wheat seed samples (farmer’s seed) of two Triticum aestivum L. varieties, BARI Gom-25 and BARI Gom-26, were collected from the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jashore. The experiment was conducted following a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. Different seed-borne fungi, namely Alternaria spp., Bipolaris spp., Curvularia spp., and Aspergillus spp., were identified as associated fungi on the seeds of these two wheat varieties. The prevalence of different seed-borne fungi varied independently among the varieties. In terms of germination, the highest germination percentage was recorded in BARI Gom-26. All tested fungicides increased germination percentage compared with untreated seeds. Knowin 50 WP showed superior performance in improving germination of wheat seeds over untreated seeds in the blotter method. Among the tested fungicides, Tilt 250 EC exhibited the most effective performance in controlling all associated seed-borne fungi of wheat.