Prevalence of Seed-Borne Fungi Associated with Seeds of Some Selected Flowers

Abstract

The prevalence of fungi associated with seeds of some selected local flowers namely cosmos, marigold, calendula , and periwinkle collected from three different location s (Arboriculture Garden, Ramna Park Garden , and Horticulture Garden) in Dhaka district and four hybrid flower seeds (African marigold, cockscomb, petunia , and Portulaca ) collected from Momin Beej Ghar, Dhaka district were recorded. The results showed that the highest percent germination (91.38%) of cosmos was obtained from Horticulture garden’s seed, marigold (95.25%) obtained from Arboriculture garden’s seed , and calendula (65.88%) periwinkle (79.38%) obtained from Ramna park garden’s seeds. But in the case of hybrid seeds, African marigold showed the highest percent seed germination (98.25%). The Horticulture garden’s seed was better than the others considering the incidence of fungi in all local flower seed s tested. But periwinkle was the lowest affected seed (12.58%, 12.20%, 8.07% incidence) and marigold was the highest affected seed (40.31%, 35.33%, 31.33% incidence) collected from Arboriculture Garden, Ramna Park , and Horticulture Garden, respectively. But in hybrid flower seeds, the lowest fungal infection (3.14%) was recorded in Portulaca and petunia seeds where as the highest (6.20%) was in African marigold seeds.