ABSTRACT
The growing incidence of kernel spots has been worrying irrigated rice producers. This study was aimed to detect the occurrence of Alternaria padwickii in lots of rice seeds produced in different regions of RS and also to verify the effect of this pathogen on plantlets. The work was carried out in the Seed Pathology Laboratory of FAEM/UFPel. Samples of 123 rice seed lots from 27 varieties from the seed laboratories of Embrapa Temperate Climate and IRGA, the Rice Institute of Rio Grande do Sul State, representing the four main rice regions of the state, were analyzed by blotter test method. For the transmission test, 100 seeds infected only by A. padwickii and 100 healthy seeds (as a control) were selected from the blotter tests, and transferred individually to 50-mL plastic cups with vermiculite. After 21 days of incubation the emerged plants were counted and the length of the aerial part and root system was measured. The results of the blotter test indicated the Camaquã region as presenting the higher incidence (10.61%). The fungus reduced emergence by 88.0%, the length of the aerial part in the surviving plants by 36.6%, and the length of the root system by 25.5%.
KEY WORDS
Kernel spots; blotter test; seedling death
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