Bioscience Methods 2016, Vol.7, No.1, 1-4
1
Research Report Open Access
Management of Seed Health of Pulses Using Plant Extracts
Ashok S. Kandhare
K.M.C. College, Khopoli, India
Corresponding author Email
Bioscience Methods, 2016, Vol.7, No.1 doi
Received: 26 Jan., 2016
Accepted: 08 Apr., 2016
Published: 14 Apr., 2016
Copyright © 2016
Kandhare, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Kandhare A.S., 2016, Management of seed health of pulses using plant extracts, Bioscience Methods, 7(1): 1-4 (doi
Abstract
Chickpea (
Cicer arietinum
L.) is affected by seventeen seed-borne fungi. These fungi caused adverse effects on seed
health and yield. Application of synthetic fungicides causes damage to consumers and environment. Therefore, petroleum ether plant
part extracts of locally available plants are tried to control seed mycoflora and to boost overall seed health of the pulse. Almost all
plant extracts showed restrictive effect on seed mycoflora of the test pulse. Significant plants that controlled seed mycoflora in higher
percents are
Azadirachta indica
A. Juss.,
Cyperus rotundus
L.,
Ocimum basilicum
L.,
O. americanum
L.,
O. sanctum
L. etc.
Keywords
Seed mycoflora, Pulses, Plant extracts
1 Introduction
Chick pea (
Cicer arietinum
L.) is an important pulse crop in Maharashtra, it is affected by different fungal
pathogens as seed mycoflora which is harmful to seed health, seed content and ultimately to yield. Association of
the fungi with the seed has found to be harmful to the seed health and seed content. Total seventeen seed-borne
fungi (
Alternaria tenuis
,
A. alternate, Aspergillus carbonarius, A. flavus, A. niger, A. nidulans, A. fumigatus,
Cladosporium spp., Colletotrichum truncatum, Chaetomium globosum, Curvularia lunata, Drechslera tetramera,
Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium spp., Rhizopus stolonifer, Macrophomina phaseolina
)
were isolated from the test pulse, on Agar plates and Moist blotters. Agar plates showed more fungal incidence
compared to Moist blotters. Among seventeen fungi isolated and identified, six dominant fungi
Aspergillus flavus,
A. fumigatus, A. niger, Drechslera tetramera, Fusarium oxysporum
and
Rhizopus stolonifer
taken for the study.
These six dominant seed-borne fungi of Green gram were tested against plant extracts of eighteen commonly and
locally available plants.
2 Materials and Methods
2.1 Preparation of petroleum ether plant extracts
Five g powder of each of the plant parts was dissolved separately in mixture of 50 ml petroleum ether and 50 ml
distilled water; in 250 ml borosil glass conical flasks. The flasks were kept in oven (Metlab) for 24 hours at 60
o
C
and the content was filtered through Whatman filter paper No.1. The filtrates were used as 5% plant extracts.
2.2 Evaluation of seed mycoflora and seed health (seed germination, seedling emergence, shoot, and root
length) of pulse.
During present studies, the seeds of Black gram were soaked separately in the leaf, stem, and root petroleum ether
extracts (petroleum ether and water 1:1) of the selected plants for 24 hours. The effect of extracts on seed health
was studied by placing seeds of test pulse on moist blotter plates and incubated for ten days at room temperature.
On eleventh day percent seed mycoflora, seed germination, root and shoot length was recorded. The seeds soaked
in sterile distilled water served as control.
For seedling emergence, seeds of Black gram were treated as mentioned above and sown in earthen pots
containing sterilized soil for ten days; at room temperature. On eleventh day percent, seedling emergence, root,
and shoot length was recorded. The seeds soaked in sterile distilled water served as control.
