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Seed treatment with an aqueous extract of Agave sisalana improves seed health and seedling growth of sorghum

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Abstract

An aqueous extract of the sisal agave, A. sisalana, was prepared from dried stem tissue by boiling in water. The sisal extract (SE) displayed a broad inhibition of the seed-borne mycoflora when applied to farmer-saved seeds of Sorghum bicolor. Species of Fusarium (belonging to the Gibberella fujikuroi complex) were inhibited >75 % on seeds. Accordingly, seed-borne crown rot, associated with Fusarium thapsinum was significantly (p < 10−7) and dose-dependently reduced in plants from SE treated seeds. The SE treatment furthermore stimulated seedling vigour and increased dry weight of 4-week-old plants (p < 10−4) with 35 %. The growth promoting activity of SE was found to be similar to what has been reported for the extract of another agave, Yucca schidigera. Both extracts were found to reduce seed-borne Fusarium and crown rot more efficiently than fungicides based on tebuconazole, enilconazole and fludioxonil (p < 0.0042). The stem of the sisal agave is a waste product in fiber production. From our findings A. sisalana stem appears to represent an abundant source of antifungal activity, simple to extract, easy to store and with a promising potential in biological seed treatment.

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Abbreviations

SE:

Sisal extract

YE:

Yucca extract

NT:

Non-treated

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Acknowledgments

Technical assistance by Lene Klem is gratefully acknowledged and we thank the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the grant: performance contract for 2011–2012 for Danish Seed Health Centre, and for the grant 09–065 LIFE for the project “Exploiting African Seed Treatment Technology”. We further thank the European Union for the grant n° DCI-FOOD/2012/304-690 under the Europe-AID program.

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Author notes

  1. Ednar G. Wulff

    Present address: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, Soendervang 4, 4100, Ringsted, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Environmental Science, University of Copenhagen, Højbakkegaard Allé 9, 2630, Taastrup, Denmark

    Marianne Andresen, Ednar G. Wulff, Michaela S. Stokholm, Sylwia E. Glazowska & Ole S. Lund

  2. African Seed Health Centre, Department of Crop Science and Production, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Ernest R. Mbega & Robert B. Mabagala

  3. Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research, Ouagadougou, P.O. Box 8645, Burkina Faso

    P. Elisabeth Zida

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  1. Marianne Andresen
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Correspondence to Ole S. Lund.

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Andresen, M., Wulff, E.G., Mbega, E.R. et al. Seed treatment with an aqueous extract of Agave sisalana improves seed health and seedling growth of sorghum. Eur J Plant Pathol 141, 119–132 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-014-0530-6

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