| Kenaf, a fiber crop of the Malvaceae family could be potentially used in the manufacture of paper and pulp products in the United States. Kenaf stand is affected by seedling diseases caused by soilborne fungi. Until recently there were no fungicide treatments legally approved for seed treatments in kenaf. Consequently, the objectives of this research were: determine the effect of fungicide seed treatments on stand establishment and yield parameters and to isolate and identify the fungi associated with seedling diseases of kenaf. Under low seedling disease pressure, metalaxyl, triadimenol, carboxin-PCNB and thiram applied alone or in combination led to a significant increase in the mean final stand of kenaf over the untreated control. Under high disease pressure, provided by the addition of fungal inoculum of seedling disease fungi, only combinations of fungicides led to significant increase in the mean stand of kenaf over the untreated control. R. solani, Pythium sp. and two species of Fusarium were isolated from kenaf seedlings. |
