MYCOFLORAL PATHOGENICITY ON CORN (ZEA MAYS) SEEDS AND ITS MANAGEMENT BY DIFFERENT STRATEGIES IN AZAD KASHMIR PAKISTAN

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate mycfloral pathogenicity prevailing on corn (Zea mays L.) and indigenous management strategies in different districts of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) Pakistan. Fungi were grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA), isolated and identified by colony counter and microscopic analysis. Eighteen different fungal species of eight genera were found associated with maize seeds. For verification In vitro seeds inoculation tests and pathogenicity rate was measured. On infection rate basis Fusarium moniliforme was (80.75 %), Aspergillus niger (63.25%) and Rhizopus stolonifera (32.75%), respectively. Their phytogeographical prevalence was found in descending order in Bhimber (61.50%), Mirpur (60.25%) and Muzaffarabad (39.03%). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that effect of different species was quite dynamic and fluctuating not only for taxa based differences but also with climate and altitudinal variations. The impact of different fungal inoculations was tested by least standard deviation (LSD) which demonstrated that d. distilled water treatment had highest seed germination rate 75.87%, with F. moniliforme 53.64%, Aspergillus niger 62.55% and their synergetic infusion showed least value of 41.73%. To reduce or eliminate the detrimental impacts of these species, four different management strategies were evaluated in experimental plot and results were analyzed by LSD. The garlic extract treatment was the best with highest seed germination rate (85.75%), followed by Benomyl treatment (84.75%), hot water treatment (79%), and distilled water treatment (65%), respectively. It was observed that all the results were significantly different from each other but the interaction between treatments and localities showed various degrees of variations.