Certified barley seed contamination with seed-borne diseases in Iran

In order to evaluate the Certified barley seed contamination with seed-borne diseases ten most important provinces (Semnan,Yazd,Zanjan,Gom,Ardabil,Khuzestan,Isfahan,Hamedan,golestan and Mazandaran) for barley production were selected in Iran in 2010-2011 crop seasons and 5 different fields were considered in each province and randomly seed samples were taken from planting source of each farmer. Different seed health analysis including head blight, covered and loose smut disease tests carried out on seed samples according to ISTA rules. Results of variance analysis of all tests showed significant differences (P=0.01) among the provinces in different variables such as Fusarium graminearum, Ustilago hordei and Ustilago nuda infection. Mazandaran, Golestan and Hamedan by 18.83, 11.66 and 11.66 percent were most infected by head blight and certified seeds of Semnan , Yazd and Zanjan provinces were healthy. The results showed that the highest infection percent of loose smut were related to Gom, Isfahan and Mazandaran. Less covered smut was seen in barley certified seeds and most of them were healthy. More research could be done in order to determine economical importance of seed-borne diseases of barley in infested regions since yield losses caused by these fungal pathogens are not yet known in Iran.