Evaluation of the Effect of Combining Fusarium oxysporum and Macrophomina phaseolina on the Incidence of Jute (Corchorus olitorius) Disease

Background: Jute charcoal rot and wilting caused by Macrophomina phaseolina and Fusarium oxysporum fungi severely hampered production. Methods: To determine the combined effects and the interaction of Macrophomina phaseolina and Fusarium oxysporum, experiments using the double culture technique, inoculation experiments using cut stems and experiments using soil inoculation were designed. Result: In the experiment with dual cultures, M. phaseolina did not exhibit any aggressive behaviour toward F. oxysporum and provide results that any abnormality in hyphae of both the fungi. Healthy sesame stems were inoculated with Macrophomina, Fusarium and Macrophomina + Fusarium and it was discovered that the stem colour varied from white to grey to black at different days after inoculation, but the colour of the control stem remained green“during the whole trial period. According to a study on soil inoculation, seed germination rates for inoculations of Macrophomina + Fusarium were as low as 20.00% owing to disease incidence, whereas seed germination rates for inoculations of Macrophomina alone were 30%. The germination rate in the control pot was as high as 78%. Although Macrophomina grows more quickly than Fusarium does, their combination had no antagonistic effects and was shown to make the illness worse than any one of them acting alone.