Ahmed Abeer A, Eid Hend T, Fatouh Heba M, Saleh Rania A, Ibrahim Hend Mohammad Saad
Seed Technology Research Department, Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt.
The Identification of Microorganisms Unit, Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 Jul 2;25(1):801. doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-06881-4.
Late wilt disease, caused by Cephalosporium maydis, is one of the most aggressive fungal diseases threatening maize production in Egypt and Mediterranean region. Biological control and pre-cultivation seed treatments are proposed among the best strategies to control C. maydis under greenhouse and field conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Trichoderma bio-control agents as well as several pre-cultivation seed treatments (priming and coating) in controlling late wilt disease and improving maize production. Five isolates of C. maydis were isolated from infected maize plants collected from different Egyptian governorates. In vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to evaluate the efficacy of different treatments in the control of C. maydis.
Pathogenicity test revealed that isolate (5) of C. maydis, collected from Qalyubia governorate, was the most virulent against the Baladi maize variety. In vitro, five Trichoderma isolates (T1, T2, T4, T6, and T7) were the most antagonistic against C. maydis. Seed germination tests showed that "extra seed power"- a novel seed treatment- applied by either coating or priming, along with priming with either garlic or moringa extracts significantly outperformed other treatments in enhancing maize germination and seedling parameters. In greenhouse, the lowest significant disease incidence percentages for Giza 168 maize cultivar were achieved with T2, ESP coating, ESP priming, T4, moringa leaf extract priming at 1.0%, Premis Ultra 2.5% fungicide and garlic extract priming at 1.0%, respectively. The same treatments recorded the lowest significant disease incidence percentages for the same maize cultivar under field conditions. The previous results were supported by anatomical investigation of maize stem under different treatments. Moreover, significant improvements in plant height and yield parameters such as ear weight and length, and grain yield were achieved with the same treatments under infection conditions.
Bio-control treatments using T. asperellum (T2) and T. harzianum (T4) along with seed treatments using ESP by coating and priming were the most effective in reducing late wilt disease incidence and enhancing growth and yield parameters of maize under greenhouse and field conditions.
由玉米头孢霉引起的晚枯病是威胁埃及和地中海地区玉米生产的最具侵袭性的真菌病害之一。生物防治和种植前种子处理被认为是在温室和田间条件下控制玉米头孢霉的最佳策略。本研究的目的是评估木霉菌生物防治剂以及几种种植前种子处理（引发和包衣）在控制晚枯病和提高玉米产量方面的有效性。从埃及不同省份采集的受感染玉米植株中分离出五株玉米头孢霉菌株。进行了体外和体内实验，以评估不同处理对玉米头孢霉的防治效果。
致病性测试表明，从盖勒尤比省采集的玉米头孢霉菌株（5）对巴拉迪玉米品种的毒性最强。在体外，五株木霉菌株（T1、T2、T4、T6和T7）对玉米头孢霉的拮抗作用最强。种子发芽试验表明，“超级种子活力”（一种新型种子处理方法）通过包衣或引发，以及用大蒜或辣木提取物引发，在提高玉米发芽率和幼苗参数方面明显优于其他处理方法。在温室中，吉萨168玉米品种的最低显著发病率分别为：T2、超级种子活力包衣、超级种子活力引发、T4、1.0%辣木叶提取物引发、2.5%普立米斯超杀菌剂和1.0%大蒜提取物引发。在田间条件下，相同处理对同一玉米品种的显著发病率最低。上述结果得到了不同处理下玉米茎解剖学研究的支持。此外，在感染条件下，相同处理在株高和产量参数（如穗重和长度以及籽粒产量）方面有显著改善。
在温室和田间条件下，使用棘孢木霉（T2）和哈茨木霉（T4）进行生物防治处理以及使用超级种子活力进行种子包衣和引发处理在降低晚枯病发病率和提高玉米生长及产量参数方面最为有效。
