Identification of fungal seed-borne pathogens in farm saved seeds of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in Hamelmalo sub-zoba of Zoba Anseba, Eritrea

The study carried out to assess seed mycoflora on sorghum collected from five village’s of Sub-Zoba Hamelmalo, viz; Wazentit, Hamelmalo, Hitsats, Basheri and Kurba-bered in Eritrea revealed preponderance of eight fungal genera in the region. All the eight fungal pathogens viz., Alternaria, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Helminthosporium, Mucor, Rhizopus and Curvularia occurred in unwashed seeds whereas, only six of the eight (Alternaria, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Helminthosporium and Rhizopus) occurred in the tap water washed and cattle urine treated samples. Over all, the pathogen frequency was higher in unwashed (35.76%) and lower (14.66%) in cattle urine treated seeds.