Impact of Seed Borne Diseases on Seed Quality and Seed Dressing Fungicides on Storability of Soybean

An experiment was conducted to study the impact of seed borne diseases of soybean on seed quality during Kharif 2000 and 2001 at National Seed Project, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad using two soybean cultivars viz., JS-335 and PK-472. JS 335 recorded maximum incidence of diseases as compared to PK 472. Average incidence of soybean mosaic virus (4 and 1.5%, yellow mosaic virus 2.6 and 1.3%, leaf crinkle virus 1.6 and 0.1%, anthracnose 10 and 10%, Cercospora leaf spot 25 and 17.5% and charcoal rot 3 and 2.5% were recorded in both JS 335 and PK 472 cultivars, respectively. Maximum reduction in 1000 seed weight was observed in JS 335 due to the influence of seed borne diseases as compared to that of PK 472. Among different seed treatments, seeds treated with thiram @ 0.3% maintained germination above minimum seed certification standard upto 10 months of storage, after which the germination fell below certification standard, indicating the efficacy of thiram in maintaining the storability of soybean seeds compared to that of all other fungicides.