Emergence and Morphological Response of Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) Treated Nuts as Influenced by Some Fungicides on Young Seedlings

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) seedlings are attacked by fungi diseases such as damping off and seedling blight caused by fungi such as Fusarium spp. and Rhizoctonia spp. which can amount to about 60-65% loss in the nursery. Cashew nut seeds are majorly sown by farmers untreated. Fungicides have also been observed to delay seedling emergence and negatively influence morphological traits in some crops. This experiment aims at observing the effect of using fungicide seed dressings on cashew seedling emergence and morphology before transplanting. Medium cashew nut biotype and three commonly used fungicides were used. The 3 months experiment was set up in the nursery using a Completely Randomized Design CRD. The treatments are; Control + Medium (Ct); Apron Star + Medium (AS), Dress Force + Medium (DF) and Seed Care + Medium (SC). Topsoil filled perforated nursery polythene bags were used. No significant difference was identified in all morphological traits observed in the experiment among the treatments all through the duration of the experiment. From a maximum vigour scale of 5, Ct, AS and DF all had a seedling vigour of 4.7 while SC had 4.2. As a precautionary measure against fungi diseases, Apron Star, Dress Force and Seed Care have been observed not to have a negative effect on the emergence and growth of young cashew seedlings when nuts are treated with them before sowing.