VIEW ARTICLE

Influence of Low Temperature During Cottonseed Germination on Growth and Disease Susceptibility. S. M. McCarter, Assistant and Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Plant Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens 30601; R. W. Roncadori, Assistant and Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Plant Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens 30601. Phytopathology 61:1426-1429. Accepted for publication 6 July 1971. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-1426.

Low-temperature (10 C) treatments of germinating cottonseed that subsequently were planted in the field resulted in increased severity of pre-emergence damping-off and in decreased yields. Generally, seedling survival decreased as the period of low temperature was lengthened; seedling mortality was highest for seed held for 24 hr at 30 C, then chilled for 4 or 6 days. Survival of seedlings from chilled seed generally increased as temperatures associated with later planting dates increased. In greenhouse tests, chilling of seed decreased shoot and root growth of seedlings grown in fumigated soil, and increased severity of damping-off in field soil and in fumigated soil artificially infested with Pythium irregulare and Rhizoctonia solani.