Author(s): Jain AK and Begum Reshama

Abstract: Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn.), commonly known as Ragi is an important coarse cereal traditional crop widely grown on marginal soils under poor management practices in semi-arid areas of African and Asian countries. It is the fourth most important millet crop in the world. In the present study, seed infecting fungi were isolated by standard blotter method and agar plate method from four cultivars i.e. GPU 45, GPU 67, REC 69 and Uduru Mallige of finger millet. Eight fungi namely Pyricularia grisea, Drechslera nodulosa, Curvularia lunata, Alternaria alternata, Fusarium moniliforme, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium spp. were found to be associated with the seeds of finger millet. The pathogenic potential of P. grisea, A. alternata, C. lunata and A. flavus was studied on finger millet cultivar REC 69 by seed coating with fungal spores and culture filtrate of the respective fungi by standard blotter method and paper towel method. All the tested fungi were found to reduce the seed germination, seedling vigour index (SVI) and pre as well as post emergence mortality. In standard blotter method, highest reduction in seed germination (36.1%) and SVI (56.6%) was recorded in the treatment of P. grisea closely followed by A. flavus. In pot conditions, seed treated with A. favus had lowest seed germination (32.5%), highest per-emergence (67.5%) and post emergence mortality (18.2%) followed by P. grisea, C. lunata, A. alternata and F. moniliforme over control. Culture filtrate of A. flavus, P. grisea and C. lunata were found inhibitorier as compared to A. alternata and F. moniliforme.

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