Biological disease control: Considerations for seed treatment and stand establishment

Effects of bacterial seed treatments on "take-all" of wheat (Triticum aesti vum), a disease caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, and on soil borne pathogens of cucumber (Cucumis sativum) and other vegetables are disc ussed. Special emphasis is placed on strategies for isolation and identific ation of bacterial biological control agents from apparently healthy wheat plants from a field that had been continually cropped to wheat since 1988 a nd has had severe "take-all" outbreaks since 1992. Current research is dire cted toward evaluating bacterial isolates alone or in various combinations as seed treatments for "take-all" control under field conditions.