TREATMENT WITH BOTANICALS AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS IN REDUCING SEED TRANSMISSION OF WHEAT BLAST PATHOGEN Magnaporthe oryzae triticum

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.