Effect of Acarus siro L. infestation on germination of wheat and barley seeds under laboratory conditions ​

Abstract

A laboratory study was conducted to assess the effect of mite infestation with the grain on the germination of wheat (IPA-99 variety) and barley (Al-Khair variety) seeds. The mite was diagnosed in stored and infested wheat and barley seeds as grain mite (cheese mite) Acarus siro L. The results showed that infestation of wheat and barley seeds with A. siro had a significant impact on their germination percentage, whether the seeds were unwashed or washed. The percentage of infestation and germination in wheat seed samples reached 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 reached 45.00%, 80.00%, 91.67%, 93.75%, and 96.00% with a germination rate of 55.00%, 20.00%, 8.33%, 6.25%, and 4.00% for unwashed seeds, respectively. For washed seeds, the infestation rate was 40.00%, 62.50%, 80.00%, 85.00%, and 90.00% with a germination rate of 60.00%, 37.50%, 20.00%, 15.00%, and 10.00%, respectively. Whereas, for barley seeds, the percentage of infestation and germination in the samples 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 reached 35.00%, 72.50%, 83.33%, 88.75%, and 94.00% with a germination rate of 65.00%, 27.50%, 16.67%, 11.25%, and 6.00% for unwashed seeds, respectively. For washed seeds, the infestation rate was 25.00%, 57.50%, 70.00%, 81.25%, and 90.00% with a germination rate of 75.00%, 42.50%, 30.00%, 18.75%, and 10.00%, respectively. The results also showed that infestation of wheat and barley seeds had a greater impact on reducing their germination percentage in unwashed samples compared to washed samples, with significant differences. Unwashed wheat seed samples achieved the highest infestation rate and the lowest germination rate at 81.28% and 18.72%, respectively. Unwashed barley seed samples achieved the highest infestation rate and the lowest germination rate at 74.72% and 25.28%, respectively. It is also noted that the highest infestation rate and the lowest germination rate for wheat and barley seeds were observed in the 100 samples, while the lowest infestation rate and the highest germination rate were found in the 20 samples for both unwashed and washed seeds, respectively. The results indicated that wheat was more preferred by the mite than barley in both unwashed and washed seed samples.