Incidence of Cladosporium cladosporioides on Jatropha seeds and its effect on germination

The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence and perform morphological characterization of Cladosporium sp. found on the seeds and analyze their interference in the germination of Jatropha curcas. Therefore, jatropha seeds were sown in acrylic box gerbox type and incubated at 25°C for 14 days after sowing (DAS) to evaluate the fungus incidence. For the confection of semi-permanent slide mountings, fungus structures were removed with platinum handle and the measurement performed under a microscope. Another experiment was conducted in paper roll to evaluate germination 7 DAS. The occurring fungus specie was identified as Cladosporium cladosporioides, which incidence was 98.0%. In the test using paper roll, there was a percentage of normal seedlings of 77.0%, abnormal seedlings of 15.0% and dead seeds of 8.00%. The germination rate is not affected by the high incidence of the fungus in the seeds.