Weeding Efficacy of Melanized Formula with Epicoccosorus nematosporus on Eleocharis kuroguwan in the Field

The study was conducted to determine the cultural conditions and the effect of inert fillers for melanization and sporulation abilities of sodium alginate pellets, and the weeding efficacy of the formula in the field. Melanin production of E. nematosporus was affected by striking frequency. Percentage of melanized beads was increased to 80.6% at higher rpm up to 180. The melanized pellets produced more conidia with abundant mucilage than unmelanized pellets. Shaker culture of Epicoccosorus nematosporus with sodium alginate yielded a total of 55 mg per 100 pellets. Percentage of melanized pellets was highest, with 81.0% and 83.3% of melanization, when wheat bran and rice polish were amended and produced the conidia with 65.4 and 68.4 mg per 100 pellets, respectively. When 1 L of conidial suspension of 6.0 ´ 105 conidia per ml was applied on 30-day-old plants in a plot, 74.5% of the plants were killed within 20 days, whereas, its melanized sodium alginate pellets killed 57.8% of the plants in the same period. The number of tuber formation of Eleocharis kuroguwai in the untreated control plots was 128.5 per plot, but those of the plots treated with conidial suspension and melanized pellets were 22.1 and 39.7, respectively, at the end of the season. Results of this study showed that melanization of mycelia-mixed sodium alginate are an important sporulation factor in E. namatosporus as a mycoherbicide. KCI Citation Count: 0