Detection and diagnosis of seedborne mycoflora associated with pigeon pea using different detection methods

The present study deals with the detection, identification, estimation of mycoflora associated with pigeon pea seeds Fusarium, Phytophthora, Alternaria, Rhizoctonia and Cercospora are the most common fungal pathogen associated with stored seed and are mainly responsible for seed deterioration, reduction in germination potential and seedling. Hence, the present study investigated seed samples of pigeon pea variety, PKV-TARA collected from Pulse Research Unit, Dr. PDKV, Akola (Maharashtra) were tested for the detection and identification of seed borne mycoflora by various methods viz., standard blotter paper method, agar plate method, rolled paper towel method.A total of ten seed borne mycoflora including pathogenic and saprophytic fungi viz., Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium spp, Penicilium spp., Rhizopus spp., Curvularia lunata, Aspergillus niger Rhizoctonia spp., Colletotrichum spp., and Cladosporium spp. were found associated with seeds samples of pigeon pea. It was revealed that Aspergillus niger had the highest frequency of occurrence (28.22%), followed by Rhizopus spp. (22.5%), Fusarium spp. (20.02), Alternaria alternata (15.00%) Aspergillus flavus (19.4%), Penicillium spp. (16.5%), Cladosporium spp., (4.5%), Curvularia lunata (3.5%), Colletotrichum spp., (2.25) and Rhizoctonia spp. (2.2%). Among three detection methods agar plate method was found most suitable for detection of seed borne mycoflora on pigeon pea.