Effect of vegetable oil seed treatment on seed mycoflora of pea, Pisum sativum L

Effect of seed treatment with six vegetable oils viz mustard, Neem, Karanj, cedar, apricot and olive was studied on the incidence of seed mycoflora of pea during the process of germination. Almost all the vegetable oils treatments resulted in significant reduction in the incidence of various fungi. The seeds treated with Neem oil had minimum incidence of Aspergillus sp (10.67%) followed by mustard (13.33%) irrespective of concentrations. Similar trend was observed in case of Alternaria sp where 2.67 per cent incidence was recorded on seeds treated with Neem oil though all the treatments were equally effective. Seeds treated with apricot oil had highest incidence of Alternaria sp (5.00%). No incidence of Mucor sp was observed in Neem and mustard treated seeds whereas 0.67, 1.00, 1.11 per cent incidence was recorded on seeds treated with Karanj, cedar and olive oils respectively. Apricot oil treatment proved least effective against Mucor sp. Mustard, Neem and Karanj provided almost complete protection against Fusarium sp whereas olive (0.22%), cedar (0.33%) and apricot (0.89%) were comparatively less effective. Hence pea seeds treated with Neem or Karanj oils provided maximum protection against fungal pathogens.