Seed Mycoflora of Sorghum bicolor in Iraq PDF

Keywords

Sorghum sp., mycoflora, fungi

Abstract

Seeds of 9 cultivars of Sorghum sp. (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) were screened for their mycoflora. The seeds were associated with 38 species of fungi belonging to 22 genera. Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, A. flavus, Curvularia lunata, Drechslera spicifera, D. australiensis and Fusarium moniliforme were the most frequent species. The clotter method detected more species than the agar plate method. From 29 to 92.6% of the seeds were infected with fungi, and their percentage germination ranged from 21 to 85.6%. The species composition and percentage germination of Sorghum seeds differed among cultivars. Fusarium moniliforme and Aspergillus fumigatus were recovered from seed embryos. Discoloured seeds had a higher incidence of fungi and lower percentage germination compared to clean seeds.