Effect of Fungicide Seed Treatment on Field Emergence of Poor and Good Quality Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan).

Abstract

Poor quality (50% seed germination in vitro and 67% of seeds infected by internally seedborne fungi) and good quality (93% seed germination in vitro and 9% of seeds infected by internally seedborne fungi) seed lots of pigeon pea (cultivar 2-B Bushy) were treated with fungicides, penicillin-G, and penicillin-G plus fungicide. All treatments significantly increased percentage field emergence of the poor quality seed lot above the non treated control. There was no significant difference in percentage field emergence between treated and nontreated seeds of the good quality seedlot. When surface disinfested, poor quality seeds were treated with thiram and placed on potato dextrose agar, the percentage seed germination in vitro increased significantly, and percentage incidence of internally seedborne fungi decreased significantly compared to that of the nontreated control.