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Evaluation of Efficacy of different Disease Management Practices against sorghum covered smut (Sphacelotheca sorghi) at Fedis and Babile, Eastern Ethiopia

Samuel Tegene, Fuad Abdusalam, and Zeleke Legesse

An experiment was conducted at Fedis and Babile for two cropping seasons (2011 and 2012) with the objective of evaluating the effectiveness of different seed treatment practices in controlling covered smut (Sphacelotheca sorghi) of sorghum. The materials tested were fermented cattle urine and botanical ‘‘Abeyi (Orm)’ (Maesa lanceolata). These materials were compared with fungicide Apron star as standard check and untreated seeds as control. Smut inoculated sorghum seed of variety Gubiye and Abshir were treated with aqueous extracts of the leaves of botanical ‘Abeyi (Orm)’at the rate of 20 ml extract diluted with the same amount of water; 200 g of the seeds were treated and then air dried before planting. The result showed that like the fungicides, both ‘Abeyi (Orm)’ and fermented cattle urine seed treatments significantly (P≤0.05) reduced the prevalence of disease more than the untreated checks for both varieties. Furthermore, statistically non-significant (P≤0.05) difference in grain yield was observed among the seed treatments. The grain yield for each treated varieties varied significantly (P≤0.05) as compared to the untreated controls. In general, the result clearly revealed that the use of M. lanceolata leaf extract and fermented cattle urine as a seed treatment against sorghum smut could be used as a substitute for fungicides and are potentially useful for resource poor farmers of lowlands of Eastern Hararghe Fedis, Babile and other areas with similar agro-ecology.