Influence of sulfur fertilization on infection of wheat take-all disease caused by the fungus gaeumannomyces graminis var. Tritici

Take-all, caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis is an important crown and root rot disease of wheat throughout the world. The fungus caused serious damage in neutral to highly alkaline and poor soils. Biological control and plant nutrition management are two effective methods for control of this disease. The sulfur fertilizer was applied in three different methods, namely simple, amendment incubation and in combination with a commercial sulfur oxidizing bacteria Thiobacillus sp. The experimental soil contained adequate amounts of nitrogen and zinc, but was poor in availability of iron, copper and mild phosphorus. Among applied sulfur fertilizers, only combination of sulfur with Thiobacillus reduced take-all severity. In this treatment, disease decreased from 87 to 45% and symptom progress on wheat crown diminished significantly. This combination had noteworthy positive effect on plant growth alike. From this study, it is evident that proper plant nutrition management through sulfur with Thiobacillus sp. on need basis not only improved factors of plant growth, but also suppressed Take-all severity in infected plants of wheat. © 2020, Gaurav Society of Agricultural Research Information Centre. All rights reserved.