Suppression of emergence and growth of gorse (<i>Ulex europaeus</i>) seedlings by <i>Fusarium tumidum</i>

Abstract

The effect of Fusarium tumidum a potential mycoherbicide on gorse seedling emergence and growth was examined in three experiments In Experiment 1 F tumiduminoculated wheat grains (one two or three) were placed close to pregerminated gorse seeds at sowing Shoot and root dry weights of inoculated seedlings were lower than the control treatment at all three inoculum densities but there was no significant difference in percentage emergence In Experiments 2 and 3 two inoculated wheat grains were placed in contact with the seedlings at sowing Less than 50 of inoculated seedlings emerged compared with 97 in the control treatments from both experiments Soon after emergence about onethird of the inoculated seedlings that had emerged died from dampingoff disease caused by F tumidum Shoot and root dry weights of inoculated seedlings were significantly lower than the control treatment The results suggest that F tumidum can suppress gorse seedling emergence and growth