Abstract
Soil borne fungal pathogens like Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid, Rhizoctonia solani Kühn and Fusarium spp. cause root rot diseases on crop plants and ultimately lead to their death. Chick pea, Sunflower and Mash bean are susceptible to M. phaseolina (Tassi) Goid, R. solani Kühn and Fusarium spp. Seeds of chick pea (Cicer arietinum L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and mash bean (Vigna mungo L.) were exposed to ultra violet (UV-C) radiation for 10, 20, 30 and 40 minutes to study their effect on seeds germination, plant growth parameters as well as its effect on root rot fungi, M. phaseolina (Tassi) Goid, R. solani Kühn and Fusarium spp. We found a substantial increase in shoot weight, shoot length, root length and root weight of both chick pea and sunflower plants when their seeds were treated with UV- C for 40 minutes. This treatment regime also showed inhibitory effects on root rot colonization by M. phaseolina, R. solani and Fusarium spp. However, 20 minutes of UV exposure to mash bean seeds showed similar increase in plant shoot weight, shoot length, root length and root weight. Thus exposure of chick pea (Cicer arietinum L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seeds to UV-C for 40 minutes are ideal condition for both the management of root rot fungi and improved crop growth parameters.
