Large scale forest plantations are now being established in different locations in Indonesia. Adequate supply of healthy seeds is required for the seedling production of different tree species. One of the problems associated with the raising of seedlings is the deterioration of seed quality due to storage fungi.
Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus spp., Penicillium spp. are the most common fungi harbouring the stored seeds of Agathis dammara, Leucaena leucocephala, Shorea smithiana, S. acuminatissima, Acacia mangium, Swietenia macrophylla, Daemonorops melanochaetes, Paraserianthes falcataria and Pinus merkusii. Other fungal species less frequently encountered are Fusarium spp., whereas Botryodiplodia sp., Chaetomium sp. and Curvularia sp. are only found occasionally.
In all cases, longer storage resulted in the lower germination percentage of the seeds. The germination percentage of seeds of a number of tree species stored under dry and cold conditions was higher compared with that of seeds stored at room temperature with prevailing high relative humidity. Seeds of Pinus merkusii and Paraserianthes falcataria, stored under dry and cold conditions; were resistant to damping-off pathogens as compared with those stored at room temperature. Injuries on seeds of Shorea spp. made them more susceptible to storage fungi.
Dry and cold storage may, thus, be employed for suppressing the development of storage fungi and accordingly for reducing the deterioration of seeds of a number of forest tree species.
Key words: seeds, storage fungi, damping-off.
Correspondence: Soetrisno Hadi, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor 16310, Indonesia
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