* Corresponding author: Prince Cobbinah Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0. Incidence and severity of fungal seedling diseases in Tamale central forest nursery, Ghana Prince Cobbinah * , Joseph Ndakpe Tindamdo, Ammal Abukari and Cosmas S. Abengmeneng Department of Forestry and Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, University for Development Studies, P. O. Box TL 1882, Nyankpala-Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana. International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2023, 10(02), 817–827 Publication history: Received on 02 November 2023; revised on 09 December 2023; accepted on 12 December 2023 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/ijsra.2023.10.2.1038 Abstract Fungal diseases cause serious seedling mortality in nurseries and threaten future seedling production for forest regeneration. To abate this menace, knowledge about them is key. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the incidence and severity of fungal diseases of forest seedlings in the Central Forest Nursery of Tamale, Ghana. Khaya senegalensis, Tectona grandis and Polyalthia longifolia in the nursery were infected with eight fungal pathogens and an unidentified fungus causing leaf blight, wilt, and dumping-off diseases. The pathogens included Rhizoctonia sp., Fusarium sp., Corrynespora sp., Colletotrichum sp., Cercospora sp., Phytophthora sp., Chaetomium sp., and Macrophomina sp. Rhizoctonia was the dominant pathogen isolated from all the leaves of the seedling species. Colletotrichum and Chaetomium were isolated from the leaves of Polyalthia longifolia. Cercospora and an unidentified spp. were found on the stems of Tectona grandis. Fusarium and Phytophthora were respectively found on Polyalthia longifolia and Khaya senegalensis stems. Chaetomium was identified on both Polyalthia longifolia and Khaya senegalensis stems. Cercospora and Fusarium were isolated from the roots of Tectona grandis and Polyalthia longifolia respectively while Macrophomina was associated with both Tectona grandis and Khaya senegalensis roots. Leaf blight recorded the highest disease incidence (76.7%) and affected all the three seedling species. Wilt disease showed low incidence (10.2-15.8 %) among the different seedling species. Dumping-off disease incidence (10.4%) was only recorded in Khaya senegalensis. The severities of the diseases identified were low (1-2) score except leaf blight of Tectona grandis and Polyalthia longifolia recording a moderate (3.0) severity score. It is recommended that appropriate disease management strategies be employed to prevent high incidences and severities. Keywords: Fungal Pathogens; Leaf Blight; Disease Incidence; Dumping-Off; Pure Culture 1. Introduction Nursery is a designated area of raising seedlings, cuttings, and grafts with intensive care before transplanting [1]. Apart from few trees and shrubs, seedlings are the bases of all healthy forest and terrestrial ecosystems restoration. Forest and land degradation is a global disaster and necessitates diverse approaches to mitigate [2, 3], nearly all of which call for some level of seedling establishment in the nursery. Projected effects of global climate change propose the future need for forest and land restoration will rise [4]. In recent times, global leaders have pledged to restore millions of hectares of deforested and degraded lands. Global Forest Goal 1 calls for reversing the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation, and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation and contribute to the global effort of addressing climate change [5]. In Ghana, the Green Ghana initiative seeks to create a collective action towards restoration of degraded landscape in the country, mitigate climate change, and inculcate in the youth the values of planting and nurturing trees and their associated benefits [6]. The global Bonn Challenge likewise pursued to restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land worldwide by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030 [7].