Brazil is a major producer and exporter of beef in the world, 90% of the production is made in pasture and 85% of cultivated pastures in the country are Brachiariasp. With a growing livestock industry in the recent years, several forage plant diseases became significant importance for causing losses in pasture productivity and quality. This study aims at quantifying the species of fungi associated with seeds and their frequency in forage plants from tropical regions of Brazil.
Assays were performed considering: incidence, pathogenicity and seed-seedling transmission of fungi associated with seeds. Therefore, 28 lots of forage species seeds produced in the harvest of 2010-2011 were used. Fourteen genera of fungi associated with seeds were found, among which Bipolarissp., Phomasp., and Curvularia sp. had pathogenic potential. It was possible to note that Bipolarissp., is prejudicial to forage seedlings of Brachiaria, Panicumand Crotalaria. Bipolarissp. and Curvularia sp. have an average of seed-seedling transmission of 100% and 90%, respectively.