Seed health evaluation of Different varieties of Lentil by incubation methods

Abstract

Seeds of lentil harbour the seed borne mycoflora which adversely affect the germination and seedling vigour. Five varieties of lentil and one local variety were taken in the present investigation to assess the seed health by incubation methods. In this study, varying degree and types of mycoflora associated with lentil seeds were recorded. The mycoflora recorded were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp., Trichoderma sp., Nigrospora sp., Chaetomium globosum, Alternaria alternata, Curvularia lunata, Fusarium sp., and Rhizopus stolonifer. In most of the methods, poor germination was observed in local variety, may be due to presence of seed associated mycoflora with higher frequencies whereas JL-3 variety has higher germination due to lower frequencies of detected mycoflora as compared to other varieties of lentil taken in the study.