Seed Borne Mycoflora of Some Commercial Wheat ( Triticum Aestivum ) Cultivars in Sindh And Balochistan

: A total of eighteen wheat varieties each nine variety from both Sindh including Hamal, Imdad, Abadgar, Benazir Moomal, Mehran, T.D-1, Anmol and T.J-83 from ARI Tandojam and Balochistan viz., Sarang-63, Wadahnuk-51, Sariab, Zarghoon-79, NIA-Amber, NIA-Sunari, Zardana-50, Pasban and Sarsabz from ARI Sariab Quetta respectively. The results of our experiment showed that the maximum wheat seed impurities percentage of 35.00, 25.50, 17.50, 11.60 and 10.40% were recorded for healthy, broken, malformed, Seeds debris and sclerotia in Sindh wheat variety Hamal . Minimum wheat seed impurities percentage of 90.5, 5.50, 3.00, 1.00 and 2.20% were recorded for healthy, broken, malformed, Seeds debris and sclerotia in wheat variety T.D-1. Maximum wheat seed impurities by seed test percentage of 25.00, 25.00, 12.50, 12.50 and 25.00% were recorded for healthy, broken, malformed, Seeds debris and sclerotia in Balochistan wheat variety Sarang-63 . Minimum wheat seed impurities percentage of 85.5, 5.40, 4.00, 2.20 and 3.00% were recorded for healthy, broken, malformed, Seeds debris and sclerotia in wheat variety Zardana-50. The most dominant seed borne pathogen (Fussarium moniliform) infected the Sindh wheat varieties viz., Anmol (25.10%), Hamal (12.10%), Moomal (12.50%), Benazir (10.20%), Abadgar (4.50%), Mehran (3.50%), T.D-1 (1.00%), Imdad (2.40%) and T.J-83 (2.20%), respectively. Similar trend were recorded for Balochistan wheat varieties viz., Pasban (28.50%), NIA-Sunari (15.40%), NIA-Amber (15.20%), Wadahnuk-51 (12.50%), Sarsabz (8.40%), Sariab (5.20%), Zardana-50 (2.50%), Sarang-63(4.50%) and Zarghoon-79 (3.50%), respectively. The lowest seed infection from the tested wheat cultivars was obtained from the Sindh as compared to Baluchistan. The highly affected variety from the Sindh was Anmol (52%) and Hamal (49%), followed by the Moomal (45%) whereas the medium infection was found in the varieties like, Benazir (35%) followed by Abadgar (34.1%), the lowest seed borne infection was obtained from the highly cultivated varieties of Sindh like, Mehran (25%), Imdad (22.0%), T.J-83 (20%) and T.D-1 (18.3%). Amongst the varieties from Balochistan the most severely affected varieties were Pasban (55%), NIA-Sunari (53.2%), NIA-Amber (49.2%), Wadahnuk-51 (45.8%), Sarsabz (35.2%), Sariab (33.3%), Sarang-63 (22.91%), Zarghoon-70 (30%) and Zardana-50 (22.5%). Among all the isolated fungi from the seed mycoflora of wheat, the most frequently found pathogen was Fusarium monoliform (36%), followed by the Aspergillus niger (19%). Other associated fungi were in low frequency as compared to Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria alternate and Pencillium sp with frequency of 17.8%, 15.2% and 12%, respectively.