Abstract:
Wheat blast caused by the fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae triticum (MoT) is one of the most
devastating diseases of wheat. It has caused crop losses up to 40 to 100% in various wheat
cultivars in different wheat growing region. Seed transmission of MoT has been proved in
the previous study.The MoT-infected seed samples var. Prodip was collected from Meherpur
sadar, mujibnagar, Gangni, Chuadanga, Kustia, and Jashore of Bangladesh during the period
from January to April 2021. Seeds were treated with two botanicals viz. Aloe vera and
Nigella sativa and three bioagents namely Trichoderma harzianum, Purpureocillium
lilacinum, and Bacillus thuringiensis including one chemical treatment Provax-200 WP and
one untreated control treatment. The highest reduction in the incidence of MoT isolates was
found when seeds were treated with P. lilacinum which was statistically similar to seed
treatment with either T. harzianum or B. thuringiensis. Seed treatment with botanicals also
reduced MoT incidence significantly. Percent seedling infection by MoT significantly
differed among different treatments and ranged from 7.99% to 13.71% where the highest and
lowest seedling infection was recorded in untreated control and B. thuringiensis treated
seeds, respectively.
