An Assessment of Seed Treatment Efficacy and Cotton Seedling Disease Presence Using Innovative Techniques

The National Cottonseed Treatment program has used the same protocol for detection of Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium spp., Fusarium spp., and Thielaviopsis basicola for over 23 years. By updating the protocol to include pathogen specific medias, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, weather risk assessment, and pathogenicity screening, it is our goal to make our data more reliable. With more reliable data, we will be able to accurately interpret seed treatment efficacy in relation to pathogens present in each field site location.