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Disease Control and Pest Management

Thermotherapy of Soybean Seeds to Control Seedborne Fungi. Thomas M. Zinnen, Former graduate student, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1102S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana 61801; J. B. Sinclair, professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1102S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana 61801. Phytopathology 72:831-834. Accepted for publication 29 October 1981. Copyright 1982 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-72-831.

Refined soybean oil was evaluated as a medium for heating soybean (Glycine max) seeds to control seedborne fungi, particularly Phomopsis spp. Seeds of various cultivars were heated in hot oil for periods and temperatures ranging from 5 min at 70 C to 20 sec at 160 C. Treatments that decreased the recovery of Phomopsis spp., with a concomitant increase in the number of germinable, pathogen-free seeds, ranged from 5 min at 70 C to 10 sec at 140 C. Seeds placed in soybean oil at 27 C did not imbibe oil, swell, or slough their seed coats.