Russia: Time to think about seed treatment

In recent years root rot of grain crops, which leads to significant crop losses, became a big problem in many parts of the country (Russia). So, the area infected with Fusarium rots has increased 2.5 times, Cercosporella and Rizoctonia rot - 1.5 times, which can reduce yield by 20-30% (Semynina T.V., All-Russian Scientific-Research Institute for plant protection, 2013).

According to "Rosselkhozcenter", 99% of seed batches are infected in varying degrees with different pathogens. Therefore, high-quality seed treatment should begin with a mandatory phyto-sanitary expertise of seeds in laboratories and diagnosis and prognosis stations, where species of pathogens and degree of infestation of seed infection can be precisely determined.

On the basis of photo-sanitary expertise one should choose a proper disinfectant. It can be either chemical or biological product.

Chemical treatments are always stressful for plants. Biological products have antidepressant properties, that is, they are able to relieve stress and to mitigate the impact of adverse weather conditions and chemical products. They are cheap, less toxic for warm-blooded animals, suppress main root rot pathogens well, have low cost per hectare treatment. It should be remembered that biological products can only be used in the absence of smut. If the presence of smut diseases is detected, it is necessary to use chemical disinfectants.

The use of biological products in tank mixtures allows to more fully implement the effect of chemical and biological compounds, to broaden the spectrum of fungicidal activity of disinfectants, to increase natural plant resistance to diseases due to the growth stimulating activity, to increase crop yields, to reduce chemical load in farm ecosystems and, that is very important today, to significantly reduce the cost of treatment. Biological effectiveness of mixtures of chemical and biological agents is 85-100 %, the value of the stored crop is in the range of 2-5 kg/ha, depending on the predecessor and soil treatment. Using seed treatment is not limited by protection of seeds against root rot. This technique allows to provide dense and healthy plant stand.

For pre-treatment of seeds of grain crops “Sibbiopharm” Ltd. (Russia) offers biological fungicide Bactofit. It is produced on the basis of microbiological synthesis of the culture Bacillus subtilis and is referred to low-toxic substances (IV hazard class). The product is intended for use on wheat, barley against wheat leaf blotch, root rot, brown and yellow rust.

The culture Bacillus subtilis produces antifungal and antibacterial substances that inhibit pathogenic microflora on the grain surface. The application of Bactofit as a protectant of grain seeds resulted in 2.5-3 time reduction of seed infection with phytopathogenic microflora.

Metabolites of the culture, mainly, enzymes stimulate physiological and biochemical processes in the seeds, increasing germination and quicker seed germination. Among the enzymes chitinase plays the special role, causing damage to cell walls of fungi that leads to their death or decline of pathogenic properties.

Bacillus based products have the advantage because of the ability of these bacteria to spore formation, allowing the microorganism to maintain its viability and activity in the soil for a long period of time. Thus, Bactofit retains its biological activity in the soil and on plants for 7-20 days. Spores of Bacillus subtilis pre-treatment of seeds actively colonize the root system of plants, creating protection area in the soil, which protects seeds and seedlings from fungi and bacterial infections. Fungicidal effect of Bactofit is complemented by growth-stimulating action of the added humates.