Identification and detection of seedborne mycoflora of chickpea by using different seed testing methods

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is grown extensively in India as an important legume crop. Seed borne fungi affect chickpea crop leading to cause major loss in quality and quantity of the seed. Thus' in present study the seedborne mycoflora associated with chickpea crop were detected and isolated. During the present investigation seed samples of Chickpea variety, JAKI-9218 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.Among that a total of eight seed borne mycoflora including pathogenic and saprophytic fungi viz. Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium spp., Rhizopus spp., Curvularia lunata, Aspergillus niger and Rhizoctonia bataticola were found associated with seeds samples of chickpea. It was revealed that Aspergillus niger had the highest frequency of occurrence (30.22%), Aspergillus flavus (22.5%) Rhizopus spp. (19.5%), Fusarium oxysporum (17.7%), Penicillium spp. (3.22%), Alternaria alternata (2.25%), Rhizoctonia bataticola (1.5%) and Curvularia lunata (1%). Among all three methods standard blotter paper method was found most suitable for detection of seed borne mycoflora associated with chickpea seeds.