Coating of onion seeds with high numbers of microbes is a major challenge to improving disease control in this crop. Onion seeds were coated with a formulated culture of Pseudomonas fluorescens strain F113. Seed coating produced a high loading of 2.1 x 10⁶ bacteria/seed. Bacterial density on the coated seed remained stable for >80 days when stored at 4^oC. At 20^oC, bacterial numbers declined but approximately 1 x 10⁶/g of seed remained viable after 70 days storage.

Fig 5: Shelf life of coated onion seeds with P. fluorescens F113Rif at 4 and 20^oC