Evaluation of reduced sorghum seed germination

We quantified the effects of fungal colonization of sorghum seed embryos in terms of germination and abnormal seedling growth. The fungi most commonly recovered from infected embryos were Alternaria spp., Curvularia lunata, and Phoma sorghina. Germination was reduced and abnormal seedling growth increased regardless of the species that colonized the embryos. In pathogenicity studies, germination was reduced only under high humidity and, primarily, when heads were inoculated at the soft dough stage.