Study on seed-borne fungi of vegetable seeds

Forty two vegetable seed samples of bottle gourd, bitter gourd, carrot, cucumber, chili, onion, okra, sweet pepper, squash (tinda) and tomato were collected from Chakwal, Islamabad and Swat areas. Fifteen seed borne fungi were identified from these samples. The infection of Alternaria tenuis 20%, Aspergillus niger 18%, Bipolaris tetramera 14% and Fusarium moniliforme 11% has been recorded on bottle gourd seed. On bitter gourd, the infection of Aspergillus niger 28 % and A. flavus 13.5 % was recorded. On carrot A. radicina 31% and A. tenuis 3-16% was observed. On cucumber seed, the infection percentage of A. niger 12%, A. flavus 1-8 % and A. tenuis 1-6 % was recorded. On chilli seeds, the infection of pathogen of Drechslera hawaiiensis 0.5 % F. equisiti 0.5- 2%, F. moniliforme 0.5-5 %, F. semitectum 1-4%, F. solani 2-6%, and Phoma spp 0.5-1% were recorded. On Okra seeds Culvularia lunata, Drechslera. tetramera, F. equiseti F. moniliforme, F semitectum, and Phoma spp., were observed with infection percentage as 0.5-1, 0.5,12, 11, 14.5 and 0.5-1, respectively. On onion A. tenuis, A. porri, F. moniliforme, F. oxysporum and F. semitectum, 2-4%, 2-3%, 05-3%, 0.5-1% and 1.5-2% were identified. On squash (tinda) seeds, the infection percentage of A. flavus 1-3 % and F. oxysporum 2-9.5 % was observed. On sweet pepper seeds, the infection of A. tenuis 0.5-3, C. lunata 1%, F. moniliforme 0.5-4% and F. semitectum 1-3 % was recorded. On tomato seeds, the fungi Bipolaris spp., C. Lunata , F. semitectum, and F. moniliforme, were recorded and their infection percentage was as 1.5, 0.5-7.5, 0.5, and 1-3 respectively. The higher percentage of infection of seed-borne fungi may be due to different sources of seed samples including mostly uncertified. High incidence of seed borne pathogen cause mycotoxicology problems to human health, therefore it is suggested that seed should be regularly monitored under seed certification system and seed should be treated before sowing with suitable fungicide.