VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Seedborne Fusarium moniliforme and Seedling Infection in Hybrid Sweet Corn. Jeanne Anderegg, Former research associate, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow 83843; James W. Guthrie, professor, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow 83843. Phytopathology 71:1196-1198. Accepted for publication 10 March 1981. Copyright 1981 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-71-1196.

In greenhouse studies, a highly significant positive correlation was found between the percentage of hybrid sweet corn seeds with seedborne Fusarium moniliforme and the percentage of crowns of resulting plants containing F. moniliforme. Under field conditions at Caldwell, ID, seedling infection was independent of the level of seedborne inoculum, suggesting that infection originated primarily from soilborne inoculum at this location. Under field conditions at Moscow, ID, however, F. moniliforme was isolated from seedling tissues more frequently when seed was coated with inoculum of the pathogen than when seed was surface disinfected. Other soil fusaria, as well as the inoculum level, influenced the number and kind of Fusarium species isolated from young seedlings.