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. 2025 Feb 22;14(5):679.
doi: 10.3390/plants14050679.

Fungicide Seed Coating Increases Emergence of Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) Under High-Fungal-Biomass Conditions

Amber J Johnson  1 , Brad Geary  1 , April Hulet  1 , Matthew D Madsen  1
Affiliations

Fungicide Seed Coating Increases Emergence of Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) Under High-Fungal-Biomass Conditions

Amber J Johnson et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Pathogenesis from soil- and seed-borne fungi can limit the survival and growth of native seeds and seedlings. Fungicides can combat fungal pathogens, but in some studies, fungicide treatments were ineffective at improving seedling emergence over untreated seed. Such studies suggest that low fungal presence due to dry conditions may be the cause of fungicide ineffectiveness in some years and sites. This study tested whether a fungicide treatment's effectiveness is indeed related to the amount of fungi in the soil. We compared the emergence and biomass produced from Pseudoroegneria spicata seed that was uncoated, coated with no active ingredient, and fungicide-coated, across five soil treatments promoting different levels of fungal biomass. For uncoated seed, both percent emergence and total biomass of seedlings were highest in autoclaved soil and declined when fungi were present, but the level of fungus did not impact emergence or biomass for fungicide-coated seed. When grown in autoclaved, untreated, or low-fungus soils, percent emergence and total biomass from fungicide-coated seeds were not significantly different from uncoated seeds. However, in medium- and high-fungus soils, the percent emergence and total biomass from fungicide-coated seeds were more than two times greater than uncoated seed (p < 0.05). These results indicate that fungicide treatments can be effective at increasing restoration success for P. spicata, but the effectiveness of the fungicide treatment depends on the microbial environment of the planting site.

Keywords: bluebunch wheatgrass; fungicide; rangeland restoration; seed coating; seed enhancement technology; seed pathogens; soil pathogens.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fungal biomass in micrograms of fungus per gram of soil by fungal inoculation level. The trendline shows the linear regression after the fungal biomass was log transformed.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percent emergence of uncoated, blank, and fungicide-coated seed grown in a range of fungal inoculum levels. Letters indicate significant difference at the p < 0.05 level within fungal inoculum levels using the Tukey method. Whiskers on each box represent the highest 25% and the lowest 25% of the data. Black dots represent outliers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total biomass per box for uncoated, blank, and fungicide-coated seed grown in a range of fungal inoculum levels. Letters indicate significant difference at the p < 0.05 level within fungal inoculum levels using the Tukey method. Whiskers on each box represent the highest 25% and the lowest 25% of the data. Black dot represents an outlier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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