Seed Borne Fungal and Bacteria Pathogens Associated With Farmer-Stored Sorghum Seeds from Eastern, Coast and Nyanza Regions in Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Muui, Catherine
Muasya, Reuben
Nguluu, Simon
Kambura, Anne
Gacheri, Kallen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Knowledge Sharing Platform
Abstract
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an important cereal crop in Kenya. Access to good quality seeds is
one of the constraints facing the small scale farmers in key areas growing sorghum. Good quality seed is an
important factor for maintaining plant population and increasing crop yield to attain food security. One of the
important aspects of good seed, besides high germination and purity is the absence of seed borne pathogens. In the
present study, an experiment was carried out to identify fungal and bacterial pathogens associated with farmerstored seeds of sorghum. The seeds were collected from farmers in Nyanza, Coast and Eastern regions, Kenya.
The seeds were washed with sterile distilled water and sterilized in 1% Sodium hypochloride for 5 minutes, rinsed
with sterile distilled water and dried using a blotting paper. The dried seeds were placed onto prepared Potato
Dextrose Agar (PDA) and macerated seeds streaked on nutrient Agar (NA) on sterile Petri dishes and incubated at
23±20C. The growing pathogens were sub-cultured on new media to make pure cultures. A segment of mycelia
from the sporulating colonies in each pure culture was examined under a compound microscope and identified
based on their morphology, colour and mycelia growth characteristics for fungi while bacterial identification was
done using colony color and morphology on nutrient agar and biochemical tests. Ten fungal pathogens and one
bacterium were identified growing on the sorghum seed samples. These were Acremonium spp., Alternaria spp.,
Aspergilus niger, Bipolaris cookie, Collectotrichum graminicola, Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium solani,
Fusarium ventrichosum, Phythium aphanidermatum, Rhizoctonia spp. and a bacterium Xanthomonas spp. It was
observed that majority (32%) of the seed samples from Coast region were infected with bacteria Xanthomonas spp.
Phythium. aphanidermatum was the most prevalent fungal pathogen detected on seed samples from Nyanza region
with about 20% prevalence. Results showed that majority of the seed samples from all the regions were
contaminated with various pathogens. This study highlights the need to create awareness to farmers on the use of
proper production practices, storage facilities and conditions to improve the quality of stored sorghum seeds.
Description
Article
Keywords
farmer-stored seeds, seed-borne pathogens, sorghum
Citation
Muui, C., Muasya, R., Nguluu, S., Kambura, A., & Gacheri, K. (2020). Seed Borne Fungal and Bacteria Pathogens Associated with Farmer-Stored Sorghum Seeds from Eastern, Coast and Nyanza Regions in Kenya. Seed, 10(18).