Effects of conidial concentrations of Fusarium moniliforme on the growth of sorghum seedlings under greenhouse conditions
Rose-Anne Mohamed, D.K. TuopayA, L.E. TrevathanB and J.T. RobbinsB
Ministry of Agriculture, Plant Protection Division, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
A Central Agricultural Research Institute, Suakoko, Liberia.
B Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Box 9655, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
Summary
Four sorghum cultivars were exposed to increasing concentrations of Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon. When grown in a greenhouse in pasteurized soil for eight weeks under optimum conditions, plant height and shoot and root growth of cv. DeKalb-59 sorghum seedlings were reduced by inoculum concentrations ≥1 x 103 conidia g-1 of soil mixture. Shoot dry weights of cvs. Asgrow 504, Contender and Seneca were reduced by inoculum concentrations as low as 10 conidia g-1 of soil mixture after nine weeks of growth. F. moniliforme infected sorghum at, or shortly after, emergence and caused seedling death or reduced seedling vigour. Effects incited by F. moniliforme during early stages of sorghum development were not compensated during later growth stages.
Plant Protection Quarterly (1997) 12 (4) 187-190.