Some microelements, namely zinc, manganese and calcium were used singly or in combination with typical fungicide, Rhizolex-T 50 to investigate their effect towards the control of faba bean root-rot caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Laboratory, greenhouse and field studies were conducted during 2008/2009 & 2009/2010 seasons using the faba bean cultivar, Giza 40. Results of in vitro studies showed that microelements or Rhizolex-T significantly inhibited the mycelial growth of the pathogen, R. solani when compared with the untreated control.Under greenhouse conditions, all isolatedfungi proved to be pathogenic and caused pre- and post-emergence damping-off while R. solani being the most virulent.
All some microelements or the fungicide tested as seed treatments for field experiments led to an increase in the plant height . Rhizolex-T 50 followed by zinc were the most effective treatments in reducing the incidence of faba bean damping-off. Calcium followed by zinc were the most effective in increasing the number of pods per plant, the weight of 100 seeds, and seed yield / plot. The most effective seed treatment in reducing the root-rot disease incidence was Rhizolex-T followed by zinc and then calcium.