Prevalence of Seed-borne Fungi in Sorghum from Different Locations of Marathwada Region of Maharashtra*
Fungi associated with sorghum seeds collected from eight different locations viz., Omerga, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed, Jalna, Nanded, Parbhani and Aurangabad were detected by standard blotter method. Sorghum seed samples (46%) were found infected by nine different species of fungi, viz., Curvularia spp., Alternaria alternata Fusarium verticilloides, Bipolaris sorghicola, Cercospora sorghi, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Colletotrichum graminicola and Epicoccum sp listed as per their order of prevalence across the locations. Of these fungi, the most predominant fungus was Curvularia spp., (17.4%), followed by F. verticilloides (16.2%), A. alternata (15.7%), B. sorghicola (11.4%), C. graminicola (11.3%) and C. sorghi (10.0%) in infected samples. The fungi varied in prevalence with respect to location of seed collection. No definite relationship between germination and seed-borne fungal infection was observed.