The transmission of Colletotrichum gossypii var. cephalosporioides from plant to seeds of cotton, normally, does not have correlation with disease severity in the field. However, low incidence of the disease, sometimes is associated with high infection of the pathogen in the seeds that is one of the causes of rejection of seed production fields in some regions of Brazil. This research had the objective to evaluate the effect of source of inoculum from diseased plants, in relation to incidence of ramulosis when 70% of bolls were developed and the relation between the incidence of disease in the field and the infection of cotton seeds. The experiments were carried out during two seasons in 2006 and 2007 with 0,0; 0,1; 0,2; 0,4; 0,8 and 1,6% of incidence, 40 days after emergence in randomized blocks with four repetitions and parcels of eight planted lines of 15 m of lenght. The incidence of disease was evaluated when 70% of bolls were completely developed in 200 plants in the four central lines. After the harvest the seeds were submitted to health test through the blotter method. It was verified high correlation between initial inoculum and incidence of disease when 70% of bolls were developed and incidence of disease in the field and infection of cotton seeds by the pathogen. The correlation was higher in 2006 than in 2007. Seed production fields with incidence of disease higher than 5% can cause high incidence of the pathogen in the cotton seeds.
Disease; Severity; Inoculum; Infection; Correlation
