Inoculation of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in seed of oleaginous plants: transmission and effects on emergence

The study aimed to verify the transmission of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum of rapeseed, safflower, crambe, sunflower, radish and niger seed (artificially inoculated) and its implications on seedling emergence. The fungal isolate was peaked in Petri dishes containing PDA medium and incubated at 20°C and 12 hours photoperiod. After the growth of the pathogen, 50 seeds were placed on each plate cultures where they remained for 20 hours. As a control we used seeds incubated under the same conditions, but only on PDA. It was observed that S. sclerotiorum can be transmitted to seedlings of crops when associated with its seeds, being an important source of inoculum. The fungus caused damping-off in all of the studied species

transmission seed-seedling; source of inoculums; oleaginous plants