DIAGNOSING AND IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGAL MYCOFLORA DISEASES ON WHEAT SEED VARIETIES AT AMBO AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER, AMBO, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

A plant is said to be diseased when its normal functions are disturbed and harmed. Wheat (Triticum spp) is the world’s leading cereal grain which is used as staple food worldwide and its production is constrained by several biotic and abiotic factors. Fungi mycoflora which is predominantly incited among the biotic stresses causes a significant reduction in wheat grain yield and its quality. Without proper identification of the disease and the disease-causing agent, disease control measures can be a waste of time and money and can lead to further losses. Proper disease diagnosis is therefore vital. This study done during the 2021 at Ambo Agricultural research center with the objective of to differentiate the different wheat fungal mycoflora diseases in different varieties by observing mycelia symptom and diagnosing their sign using compound microscope with different magnification power. During the study Seed health test works were conducted up on the seed of three wheat Varieties namely Bollo, Tsehai and Menze to determine whether the seed is health or diseased using Agar Plate method. Planting after five, seven- and nine-days intervals, the mycelia growth for ten seeds per Petridis were recorded in germination percentages and the mean of the mycoflora were calculated. Hence Agar Plate Method wheat seed test in this study showed that the presence of the fungal pathogens on the tested three varieties during 5th, 7th and 9th days ranges from 40 to 100 infection percentage.