Rhizosphere Effects of Pea Seed Treatment WithPenicillium oxalicum

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Abstract
When P. oxalicum-treated seeds of 5 pea cultivars were planted in the field in 2 yr, a greater population density of P. oxalicum and other Penicillium spp. was isolated from the rhizosphere of plants grown from P. oxalicum-treated seeds than from the rhizosperes of plants grown from captan or untreated seeds of all cultivars; these fungi accounted for a significantly greater population of total fungi for all cultivars. Seed treatment had no effect on population densities of Fusarium spp. or bacteria (including actinomycetes). Numbers of rhizosphre colonies of P. oxalicum increased at 3, 7 and 10 days after the planting of treated seeds. P. oxalicum was most frequently recovered from the proximal 2.5 cm of tadproot and from the secondary roots originating from this region and less frequently from distal portions of roots. Thus, application of P. oxalicum to seeds resulted in its recovery and in greater population densities of Penicillium spp., but this treatment did not affect other microorganisms in the rhizosphere.