International Journal of Natural and Social Sciences 2 (2015) 28-32 ISSN: 2313-4461 How to cite this article: MS Islam, MNI Sarker and MA Ali (2015). Effect of seed borne fungi on germinating wheat seed and their treatment with chemicals. International Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 2(1): 28-32. Effect of seed borne fungi on germinating wheat seed and their treatment with chemicals Md.Shahidul Islam 1 *, Md. Nazirul Islam Sarker 2 , Md. Arshad Ali 3 1 Department of Department of Plant Pathology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202 2 Department of Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202 3 Department of Department of Entomology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202 ABSTRACT Wheat is being attacked by several fungal pathogens, many of them are seed-borne. These fungi were detected by the methods as recommended by the ISTA. The experiment was conducted at the Seed Pathology Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during January, 2006 to February, 2007 to record and identify the seed borne fungi associated with wheat seeds as well as their control with some chemicals. The seeds were collected from ten villages of each of two different locations of Dinajpur district (Dinajpur Sadar upazila and Birgonj upazila). Different seed borne fungi such as Bipolaris sorokiniana, Ahernaria tenuis, Curvularia lunata, Fusurium spp, Aspergillus niger and A. flavus were predominant with the wheat seeds of two locations of Dinajpur district. Three chemical fungicides such as Vitavax 200, Bavistin and Captan were used to evaluate their effect on seed-borne fungi of wheat seeds. Among the used chemicals Vitavax 200 showed potential effect compared to others. However, if considerable effect of Vitavax 200 fungicide to the environment and it performance in field trail were observed Vitavax 200 could be used to control wheat seed born fungi. Key words: Triticum aestivum, seed-borne fungi, Vitavax 200, Bavistin, Captan. *Corresponding author. Tel.: +8801716872870 E-mail address: shahid.sbl2008@gmail.com (MS Islam) @2015 Int. J. Nat. Soc. Sci. all right reserved. INTRODUCTION Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), the world’s most important cereal that is used as staple food by two third of the world population (Majumder, 1991). It is considered as the second most staple food crop next to rice in Bangladesh. Besides human nutrition, wheat is also used as animal feed. According to BBS, 2006 total wheat cropped area 1380000 acre, production 976000 mt and yield 0.71 mt/acre. Wheat plants at all stages are subjected to numerous injuries and stresses, which interfere with their normal functioning and development. Seeds are regarded as highly effective means for transferring pathogens over the years. Seed-borne diseases have been found to affect growth and development of crop plants. Several seed-borne pathogens are associated with wheat which are responsible for deterioration of seed quality during storage. The yield loss in wheat due to different diseases have been reported to be 20% in var. Sonalika, whereas 14% and 8% in Akbar and Kanchan respectively (Razzaque and Hossain, 1991). In farmers field the yield loss was estimated to be 14.97% (Alam et al. 1995). In case of severe attack it may result even 100% yield loss (Hossain and Azad, 1994). Almost all methods are aimed for protecting plant becoming diseased rather than curing them after they become diseased and seed treatment is one of the methods. The fungi which are exclusively seed-borne in nature can be controlled only through the treatments of seeds. Seeds are treated with chemicals to prevent their decay after planting by controlling pathogens carried on them, present inside the seeds or existing in the soil where they will be planted. Different chemicals and botanicals control measures are used for seed borne fungi of wheat. So far an appreciable amount of work has been done on the control of seed-borne pathogens of wheat by fungicidal seed treatment (Singh et al., 1995). Seeds are treated with fungicides before