Abstract
A survey was conducted to determine the status of seed quality and prevalence of seed borne pathogens in jute seeds collected from different sources viz. breeder seed from Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Dhaka; foundation seed from Chitla farm, Chitla, Kushtia and Nashipur farm of BADC, Dinajpur, certified seed from contact growers of BADC and farmers' seed from six seed production zones viz. Dhaka, Bogra, Tangail, Jessore, Kushtia and Rajshahi of Bangladesh. The jute seeds of varieties CVL-1, CVE-3, O-9897 and O-4 were collected from four seed tiers viz. breeder, foundation, certified and farmer's seed of which breeder seeds was found best in respect of purity, germination and vigour index of seeds with the lowest seed borne infection of fungal pathogens, while the farmers' seed was recorded as the poorest in terms of seed quality with the highest seed borne infection of fungal pathogens. Production of quality healthy jute seeds at early sowing (June) methods resulted minimum total disease incidence (3.06 - 15.34 %) at 6 weeks after sowing and maximum (8.11 - 97.89%) at 18 weeks after sowing in both capsularis and olitorius varieties. Maximum germination of harvested seeds (81.40% in capsularis and 84.63% in olitorius) and highest seed yield (698.27 Kg/ha in capsularis and 632.25 Kg/ha in olitorius) were recorded in top cutting method. Broadcasting method resulted highest seed borne infection of pathogens (57.74 % in capsularis and 53.50 % in olitorius) than that of line sowing and top cutting methods. BCR for seed production of both capsularis (1.47) and olitorius (1.53) varieties were higher in line sowing method than that of top cutting and broadcasting methods. In case of late sowing (August) line sowing method was found superior to broadcasting method regarding seed quality and seed yield (701.53 kg/ha in capsularis and 750.45 kg/ha in olitorius) with minimum seed borne infection of pathogens (16.49 % and 16.75 %, respectively in both capsularis and olitorius varieties). Results of field experiments under seed treatment with vitavax-200 and garlic paste, foliar spray with Dithane M-45 on the production of quality healthy jute seeds at early (June) showed minimum disease incidence (3.46 - 17.30 % in capsularis and 1.50 - 14.70 % in olitorius ) at 6 weeks and maximum (14.13 - 81.00 % in capsularis and 8.90 - 54.00 % in olitorius) at 18 weeks after sowing. In case of late sowing, no disease incidence was found up to 5 weeks after sowing and maximum (1.40 - 20.00 % in capsularis and 0.00 - 14.00 % in olitorius) at 15 weeks after sowing. Incidence of disease was minimum in jute varieties of plots where vitavax-200 (0.4%) and garlic paste (12.5%) treated seeds were used, where maximum disease incidence was recorded in control plots. Seed yield decreased with the increase of disease severity in plots both in early and late jute season. Late sowing (August) was found best for jute seed production in terms of seed quality and seed health. In case of late sowing, highest seed yield (1083.33 Kg/ha) was recorded in olitorius O-9897 where seeds treated with vitavax-200 (0.4%) followed by garlic paste (12.5 %) with seed yield of 1066.67 kg/ha. The highest BCR (4.20) was recorded in O-9897 by treating seeds with vitavax-200 (0.4%) followed by BCR 4.17 in O-9897 using garlic paste (12.5%) treated seeds. While in capsularis, highest seed yield (1020.83 Kg/ha) with BCR (2.64) were recorded in CVE-3 using vitavax-200 treated seeds followed by seed yield (1020.00 Kg/ha) and BCR (2.66) obtained with garlic paste (12.5%) treated seeds. The lowest seed yield (916.67 Kg/ha) and BCR (2.41) were recorded in variety CVE-3 under control treatment.