Applying of Plants to Regulate Mycobiota of Winter Wheat Seeds

Abstract

Plants, having a wide array of different substances that are natural to ecosystems, can be effective biofungicides. Most scientific studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of plant extracts against certain phytopathogenic species/genera in vitro. These results do not provide an answer to how certain substances might affect the systems of microorganisms. The aim of the work was to study the influence of plants on isolation of mycobiota representatives of winter wheat seeds, the peculiarities of its germination and seedling development. The mycocomplex of the seeds of the 2017 and 2019 harvests from the North-East of Ukraine was studied. The seeds were kept in aqueous plant solutions and spread on potato-glucose agar. The effects of Citrus sinensis L., Citrus limon L., Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Larix decidua Mill., and Pinus sylvestris L. were evaluated. All plant solutions changed the quantitative and qualitative composition of seed mycobiota. The negative effect of soaking seeds on the development of wheat seedlings was established, which will not allow them to be used to regulate the seed mycocomplex in the future. C. limon (67%) and Z. officinale (on average 52%) most effectively reduced the number of dominant Alternaria sp. Seed treatment increased the number of fungal colonies compared to the control, except for the 40% ginger solution, and when ginger was used, the spectrum of fungi was expanded, and when citrus and pine were used, it was narrowed. Plant solutions changed the dominance of Alternaria sp. in the seed mycobiota on the prevalence of Penicillium sp. and Aureobasidium pullulans (de Bary) G. Arnaud. The mycobiota of wheat seeds acquired the most significant changes under the influence of L. decidua and P. sylvestris