Effect of Alternaria sesami on Germination and Seedling Growth of Sesame

Background: Sesame is an important oil seed crop affected by toxigenic fungal pathogens viz., Alternaria, Fusarium and Aspergillus. Among these, Alternaria sesami is seed borne and most destructive pathogen causing yield loss to an extent of 28.9 per cent. Hence the effect of artificial infection with A. sesami on seed quality of various samples of sesame was investigated during 2017-2018. Methods: A total of 28 samples were collected from different sesame growing areas of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and inoculated with A. sesami. The inoculated and uninoculated seeds were tested for germination and seedling growth by rolled paper towel method.Result: Significant differences in seed germination, seedling length and seedling vigour index were observed among the uninoculated as well as inoculated sesame seed samples. The results indicated that Alternaria sesami caused 15.13% to 49.68%, 12.77% to 46.14% and 28.28% to 72.87% reduction in seed germination, seedling length and vigour index, respectively, of inoculated seed over uninoculated seeds. The per cent reduction was highest in the seed samples of YLM-17 collected from farmers’ saved seed samples of Prakasam district.