Efficacy of chemical and cultural practices against covered smut (Sphacelotheca sorghi) in sorghum at Abergelle, North Ethiopia

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is the most important cereal crop grown for food and nutritional security. Despite its importance to household livelihoods, its productivity is low due to several biotic and abiotic factors. Amongst them, covered kernel smut is the major pest that resulted in low sorghum yields. Therefore, the study was conducted in the Abergele district during the 2015–2016 cropping season to investigate the effects of cultural methods and fungicides on covered kernel smut (Sphacelotheca sorghi) of sorghum. The treatments consisted of four factors (Apron star, cattle urine, hot water, and pure water (control) with three replications. The experiments were a randomized complet block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results of the analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant (p ≤ 0.05) difference for PL, BY, GY, DS (%), DI (%), YL(%), YLR (%), and HI (%), but there was no difference between the treatments for DE 50%, DM 50%, and PH. The highest yields were obtained from Apron star (2,978 kg/ha) and cow urine (2,711 kg/ha) and the lowest (1,944 kg/ha) was recorded from pure water or control. Furthermore, plots treated with Apron star and cow urine had the lowest disease incidence (3.13%) and (4.03%), respectively. Also, the lowest disease severity (1%) and (1.33%) were scored from the same treatments in order, while the highest incidence (29.7729.77%) and severity (3%) were recorded from control. Due to this, the lowest yield loss and highest yield loss reduction were recorded from seeds treated with Apron star and cow urine, while, the highest yield loss percentage (36.6%) was recorded from untreated check. This study suggests that treating sorghum seed with Apron star and cow urine could be equally effective to control kernel cover smut on sorghum. However, cow urine has more advantages over the Apron star chemical fungicide in terms of availability, cost and ecological feasibility, and it cloud be recommended to manage covered kernel smut. The experiment is suggested to be repeated over a year to verify efficacy and rate.