Recent Approaches in Diagnosis of Seed-Borne Fungal Pathogens of Major Crops

Abstract

The International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) has documented that the seed health testing, prior to sowing is a vital prerequisite to maximize crop yield. Quality seed should be free from seed borne inoculums of pathogens apart from being genetically and physically pure. In today’s time of globalization, seed is becoming a major mode of transferring plant pathogens across long distances. Seed-associated fungi lead to pre and post-emergence death of seedlings, reduced seed germination and alteration in the normal growth of plants. Therefore, seed health testing is carried out for domestic seed certification, quality assessment, and plant quarantine purposes in many countries. However, non-uniform distribution and low level of inoculums in various seed lots sometimes provide inadequate interpretation of the results during routine seed health testing. In recent years, the advent of biotechnological approaches has provided suitable molecular tools for detection assays with higher sensitivity in a relatively shorter diagnosis time and management of plant pathogens than the conventional methods of disease control. Many PCR-based assays with different modifications have been reported for the detection of seed-borne pathogens of economic importance. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of DNA is a rapid method for specific detection of genomic DNA from seed borne pathogens for quick detection of many economically important pathogens. Various methods used for quick and efficient detection of seed borne fungal pathogens have been discussed in the chapter.