scholarly journals Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti Species Complex Causing Root Rot Disease on Leymus chinensis in China

Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Zhang ◽  
Le Wang ◽  
Mandela Elorm Addrah ◽  
Kejian Lin

Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. is a rhizomatous grass widely grown in the grasslands of Eurasia. With strong fertility and stress resistance, L. chinensis makes an excellent pasture and mowing grass, contributing to animal husbandry and thus playing an important role in the local economy of the northern grassland area in China (Baoyin et al. 2014). During August to September 2019, diseased roots of L. chinensis were collected from an artificially planted grassland (40°47'44" N, 111°43′58″ E, alt. 1049 m) in Shaerqin County, Hohhot, China. Infected plants were scattered across the field with disease incidence up to 2%. Symptoms observed were wilted plants and rotten roots. In order to identify the causal pathogen of root rot on L. chinensis, symptomatic pieces (5 × 5 mm) of grass roots were excised and surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 3-5 s followed by 1% NaClO for 2-3 min, rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, and placed on water agar and incubated at 25°C for 3 days. The mycelia were cut and transferred onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) for subculture. A fungus was consistently isolated, and a strain, named LCH054, was obtained by hyphal tip culture. Culture developed as white and fluffy aerial mycelia, with diffused pink pigment on the reverse side of PDA after culturing at 25℃ for 7 days. A culture of LCH054 was transferred to carnation leaf agar (CLA) (Li et al. 2014) and incubated at 25°C for 10 days. Microconidia were absent but macroconidia were produced. Macroconidia were hyaline, sickle-shaped, and had 4 to 7 septa, 19.8 to 63.6 (mean 43.8) × 1.8 to 5.7 (mean 3.2) μm (n = 100). Chlamydospores were ellipsoidal or subglobose, with thick walls in clumps or chains. All morphological characteristics of LCH054 resembled Fusarium equiseti (Leslie and Summerell 2006). The primers of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (White et al. 1990) and translation elongation factor 1α gene (TEF-1α) (O’Donnell et al. 1998) were used to amplify the isolate, and the fragments were sequenced. BLASTn search in the NCBI database using the ITS and TEF-1α sequences revealed 99 to 100% similarities with F. equiseti. BLAST analysis of the ITS and TEF-1α sequencies in the FUSARIUM-ID database showed them to have 99.21% (500 bp out of 504 bp) and 99.52% (622 bp out of 625 bp) similarities with the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC) (strain NRRL 45997) (O’Donnell et al. 2009), respectively. The ITS and TEF1-α sequences were deposited in GenBank as accession numbers MT937067 and MT947530, respectively. The strain LCH054 was identified as a member of the FIESC based on morphological and molecular characteristics. For the pathogenicity test, one hundred of L. chinensis seeds were planted into five pots (12 cm [diameter]) × 15 cm [high]) and kept in a greenhouse under a 16-h photoperiod with temperatures of 20-25°C and 40% relative humidity. The conidial suspension of LCH054 was prepared by washing 7-day old fungal culture grown on CLA medium using sterile deionized water. Conidia were filtered through three layers of sterile cheese cloth, counted, and adjusted to 1 × 105 conidia/ml with a hemocytometer. Forty 1-month-old healthy plants (four pots) were inoculated with 400 ml of conidia suspension using the root drenching method, whereas the inoculum was replaced with 100 ml sterile water on control plants (one pot). Fourteen days after inoculation, all inoculated plants showed the typical symptoms of root rot identical to those observed in the field, whereas the control plants remained healthy. LCH054 was re-isolated from the inoculated plants and identified by the morphological and molecular approaches as described above. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of root rot caused by F. incarnatum-equiseti on L. chinensis in China as well as worldwide. The presence of the pathogen could cause significant economic losses in L. chinensis production. For this reason, strategies for the management and control of this disease should be developed and implemented.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliul Hassan ◽  
Taehyun Chang

Abstract Crown and root rot is the most important and destructive strawberry diseases in Korea as it causessubstantial economic loss. In August 2020, a severe outbreak of crown and root rot on strawberries (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.) was observed in the greenhouse at Sangju, South Korea. Infected plantlets displayed browning rot within the crown and root, stunted growth, and poor rooting. Thirty fungal isolates were procured from the affected plantlet. Isolates were identified based on morphological characteristics and pathogenicity test as well as sequence data obtained from internal transcribed spacer, large subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid, translation elongation factor,and RNA polymerase Ⅱ-second largest subunit. Results showed that thecrown and root rot of strawberry in Korea was caused by three distinct fungal species:Fusarium oxysporum species complex, F. solani species complex, andPlectosphaerella cucumerina. To the best of our knowledge,F. solani species complex andP. cucumerinaare reported for the first time as the causal agents of the crown and root rot of strawberryin South Korea.Pathogenicity tests confirmed that these isolates are pathogenic to strawberry.Understanding the composition and biology of the pathogen population will be helpful toprovide effectivecontrol strategies for the disease.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixto Velarde Felix ◽  
Victor Valenzuela ◽  
Pedro Ortega ◽  
Gustavo Fierros ◽  
Pedro Rojas ◽  
...  

Chickpea (Cicer aretinium L.) is a legume crop of great importance worldwide. In January 2019, wilting symptoms on chickpea (stunted grow, withered leaves, root rot and wilted plants) were observed in three fields of Culiacan Sinaloa Mexico, with an incidence of 3 to 5%. To identify the cause, eighty symptomatic chickpea plants were sampled. Tissue from roots was plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. Typical Fusarium spp. colonies were obtained from all root samples. Ten pure cultures were obtained by single-spore culturing (Ff01 to Ff10). On PDA the colonies were abundant with white aerial mycelium, hyphae were branched and septae and light purple pigmentation was observed in the center of old cultures (Leslie and Summerell 2006). From 10-day-old cultures grown on carnation leaf agar medium, macroconidias were falciform, hyaline, with slightly curved apexes, three to five septate, with well-developed foot cells and blunt apical cells, and measured 26.6 to 45.8 × 2.2 to 7.0 μm (n = 40). The microconidia (n = 40) were hyaline, one to two celled, produced in false heads that measured 7.4 to 20.1 (average 13.7) μm × 2.4 to 8.9 (average 5.3) μm (n = 40) at the tips of long monophialides, and were oval or reniform, with apexes rounded, 8.3 to 12.1 × 1.6 to 4.7 μm; chlamydospores were not evident. These characteristics fit those of the Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. species complex, FSSC (Summerell et al. 2003). The internal transcribed spacer and the translation elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1-α) genes (O’Donnell et al. 1998) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced from the isolate Ff02 and Ff08 (GenBank accession nos. KJ501093 and MN082369). Maximum likelihood analysis was carried out using the EF1-α sequences (KJ501093 and MN082369) from the Ff02 and Ff08 isolates and other species from the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC). Phylogenetic analysis revealed the isolate most closely related with F. falciforme (100% bootstrap). For pathogenicity testing, a conidial suspension (1x106 conidia/ml) was prepared by harvesting spores from 10-days-old cultures on PDA. Twenty 2-week-old chickpea seedlings from two cultivars (P-2245 and WR-315) were inoculated by dipping roots into the conidial suspension for 20 min. The inoculated plants were transplanted into a 50-hole plastic tray containing sterilized soil and maintained in a growth chamber at 25°C, with a relative humidity of >80% and a 12-h/12-h light/dark cycle. After 8 days, the first root rot symptoms were observed on inoculating seedlings and the infected plants eventually died within 3 to 4 weeks after inoculation. No symptoms were observed plants inoculated with sterilized distilled water. The fungus was reisolated from symptomatic tissues of inoculated plants and was identified by sequencing the partial EF1-α gene again and was identified as F. falciforme (FSSC 3 + 4) (O’Donnell et al. 2008) based on its morphological characteristics, genetic analysis, and pathogenicity test, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. The molecular identification was confirmed via BLAST on the FusariumID and Fusarium MLST databases. Although FSSC has been previously reported causing root rot in chickpea in USA, Chile, Spain, Cuba, Iran, Poland, Israel, Pakistan and Brazil, to our knowledge this is the first report of root rot in chickpea caused by F. falciforme in Mexico. This is important for chickpea producers and chickpea breeding programs.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yihua Yang ◽  
Zhenyan Cao ◽  
Jintian Tang ◽  
Yang Song ◽  
Xuping Shentu ◽  
...  

Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is a rare and valuable Chinese herb cultivated in Zhejiang and Yunnan Provinces, China, which is known for its functions as an anti-neoplastic and for lowering the blood sugar (Cheng et al., 2019). In September and October of 2018 and 2019, symptoms of root rot on D. officinale were observed with an incidence of 15–20% in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province, China. The pathogen mainly infected roots causing severe root rot, which resulted in significant economic losses. At the early stage of this disease, the stalk turned brown, then the whole plant rotted from bottom to top within a few days. Symptomatic roots were cut into small pieces (1.0 cm × 1.0 cm) and disinfected successively by submersion in 75% ethanol for 30 s and 1% NaClO for 30 s under aseptic conditions. After rinsing with sterile water three times and air drying, segments were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA). After incubation at 25 °C for 5 d in the dark, white to pale cream colored colonies were produced. The average mycelial growth rate was 15.2–18.5 mm day-1 at 25 ℃. Macroconidia were falciform with three to five septa and (18.0−32.0)×(3.0−5.0) μm in size. Microconidia were fusiform with two to three septa (7.0–10.0)×(2.1–3.0) μm. Based on morphological characteristics of macroconidia, and microconidia, isolates were identified as Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'; font-size:12pt">FIESC) (Avila et al., 2019). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, translation elongation factor (EF-1α), RNA polymerase largest subunit (RPB1), and RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) gene were amplified and sequenced respectively using ITS1/ITS4, EF1/EF2, Fa/G2R and 5f2/7cr primers (O’Donnell et al., 2010). BLASTN analysis of FUSARIUM-ID using ITS (Accession NO. MW172977), EF-1α (Accession NO. MW172978, RPB1(Accession NO. MW172979), and RPB2(Accession NO. MW172980) showed 99.8%, 100%, 99.74%, and 98.63% identity to FIESC isolates NRRL43619, NRRL34059, NRRL32864, and NRRL32175, respectively. To verify pathogenicity, ten 1-year-old healthy D. officinale plants were used for inoculation tests. One milliliter of a conidial suspension (106 conidia ml-1) was pipetted onto the soil around the base of D. officinale plants per pot. Ten plants, which were treated with sterile water, were used as the control. All plants were maintained in a climatic chamber (26 ± 1 ℃, 70–80% relative humidity and a photoperiod of 16:8 [L: D] h). Seven days later, all inoculated plants showed typical symptoms of root rot identical to those observed in the fields. Control plants remained symptomless and healthy. The pathogenicity analysis was repeated three times. Pathogens re-isolated from symptomatic plants were identified as FIESC species by morphology observation and sequence analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of root rot caused by FIESC species on D. officinale in Zhejiang, China.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Zhao ◽  
Yue Liang ◽  
UWAREMWE CONSTANTINE ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
Tian Yuan ◽  
...  

Codonopsis pilosula Franch., also known as Dangshen, is an important medicinal plant in China. It is widely cultivated for a major income of local farmers in Dingxi, Gansu Province. Its dried roots have the effects of supplementing vital energy, nourishing spleen and lung, enhancing organic immunity, helping depressurization, and improving microcirculation, etc., for humans. In June to October, 2018-2020, root rot disease was observed on C. pilosula with incidences up to 20% in the Dingxi region. We collected ten diseased and healthy plants from Dingxi (35°06′N, 104°29′E, 2206 m a.s.l.) in October 2019. The rotting root tissues were sterilized with 70% ethanol for 30 s and 3% NaOCl for 5 min and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates incubated at 25℃to isolate the pathogen (Shang et al. 2014). From the similar fungal cultures isolated after 7 days on PGA, isolate B17 was purified for morphological and molecular characterization. Its colony appeared light purple and produced long aerial hyphae. Slightly curved macroconidia (12.3 to 31.7 × 3.1 to 5.1 μm, n=40) and oval-ellipsoid and cylindrical microconidia (6.1 to 9.9 × 2.8 to 4.5 μm, n=30) were observed. The internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and the translation elongation factor-1 alpha (TEF-1α) gene were amplified using primers ITS1/ITS4 and EF-1/EF-2 (Uwaremwe et al. 2020), respectively. The 489 bp (ITS) and 631 bp (TEF-1α) sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession No. MN744360 and MN786974, respectively). The ITS sequence had 100% homology to isolate JJF2 (No. MN626452, ITS) (Ma et al. 2020), and the TEF-1α sequence had 100% homology to isolate Fo353 (No. KM065860) (Koyyappurath et al. 2016) of Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. emend. Snyder & Hansen, which caused root rot of Panax ginseng and Vanilla planifolia, respectively. A phylogenetic tree was generated using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average in the MycoBank database (O’Donnell et al. 2015), which clustered isolate B17 in the F. oxysporum species complex. Twenty 1-year-old plants of C. pilosula were inoculated with were inoculated by dipping the washed roots in a conidial suspension (2 ×106 conidia/ml added with 0.2% Tween 20) for 20 min before transplanted into pots (16 × 16 × 23 cm) with four plants per pot filled with sterilized peat and soil mixture (2:1 v/v) and grown in a greenhouse at 26oC with >70% humidity and 16 h light. Sterilized water added with 0.2% Tween 20 was used as a control. One week after inoculation, the leaves of pathogen-inoculated plants became yellow, and wilting occurred at the leaf tips 18 days later. Some of the inoculated plants died 45 days after inoculation, and the low part of roots had dark brown to black lesions and became rotting. The control plants did not show symptoms. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times with the same fungus isolated from the infected root tissue. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that F. oxysporum causes root rot on C. pilosula in China. F. oxysporum is a serious threat to C. pilosula cultivation, and the finding of this pathogen provides a clear target for root rot control.


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (9) ◽  
pp. 1273-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
X.-M. Luo ◽  
J.-L. Li ◽  
J.-Y. Dong ◽  
A.-P. Sui ◽  
M.-L. Sheng ◽  
...  

China is the world's largest producer country of coptis (Coptis chinensis), the rhizomes of which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Since 2008, however, root rot symptoms, including severe necrosis and wilting, have been observed on coptis plants in Chongqing, southwestern China. Of the plants examined from March 2011 to May 2013 in 27 fields, 15 to 30% were covered with black necrotic lesions. The leaves of infected plants showed wilt, necrotic lesions, drying, and death. The fibrous roots, storage roots, and rhizomes exhibited brown discoloration and progressive necrosis that caused mortality of the infected plants. Infected plants were analyzed to identify the causal organism. Discoloration of the internal vascular and cortical tissues of the rhizomes and taproots was also evident. Symptomatic taproots of the diseased coptis were surface sterilized in 1% sodium hypochlorite for 2 min, rinsed in sterile distilled water for 2 min, and then air-dried in sterilized atmosphere/laminar flow. Small pieces of disinfested tissue (0.3 cm in length) were transferred to petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar (PDA) supplemented with 125 μg ml–1 streptomycin sulfate and 100 μg ml–1 ampicillin, and incubated for 5 days at 25°C with a 12-h photoperiod. Four distinct species of fungal isolates (HL1 to 4) derived from single spores were isolated from 30 plants with root rot symptoms collected from the study sites. To verify the pathogenicity of individual isolates, healthy coptis plants were inoculated by dipping roots into a conidial suspension (106 conidia/ml) for 30 min (15 plants per isolate), as described previously (1). Inoculated plants were potted in a mixture of sterilized quartz sand-vermiculite-perlite (4:2:1, v/v) and incubated at 25/18°C and 85 to 90% relative humidity (day/night) in a growth chamber with a daily 16-h photoperiod of fluorescent light. Plants dipped in sterile distilled water were used as controls. After 15 days, symptoms similar to those observed in the field were observed on all plants (n = 15) that were inoculated with HL1, but symptoms were not observed on plants inoculated with HL2, HL3, and HL4, nor on control plants. HL1 was re-isolated from symptomatic plants but not from any other plants. Morphological characterization of HL1 was performed by microscopic examination. The septate hyphae, blunt microconidia (2 to 3 septa) in the foot cell and slightly curved microconidia in the apical cell, and chlamydospores were consistent with descriptions of Fusarium solani (2). The pathogen was confirmed to be F. solani by amplification and sequencing of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (rDNA-ITS) using the universal primer pair ITS4 and ITS5. Sequencing of the PCR product revealed a 99 to 100% similarity with the ITS sequences of F. solani in GenBank (JQ724444.1 and EU273504.1). Phylogenetic analysis (MEGA 5.1) using the neighbor-joining algorithm placed the HL1 isolate in a well-supported cluster (97% bootstrap value based on 1,000 replicates) with JQ724444.1 and EU273504.1. The pathogen was thus identified as F. solani based on its morphological and molecular characteristics. To our knowledge, this is the first report of root rot of coptis caused by F. solani in the world. References: (1) K. Dobinson et al. Can. J. Plant Pathol. 18:55, 1996. (2) J. F. Leslie and B. A. Summerell. The Fusarium Laboratory Manual. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2006.


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
pp. 1580-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Kithan ◽  
L. Daiho

Etlingera linguiformis (Roxb.) R.M.Sm. of Zingiberaceae family is an important indigenous medicinal and aromatic plant of Nagaland, India, that grows well in warm climates with loamy soil rich in humus (1). The plant rhizome has medicinal benefits in treating sore throats, stomachache, rheumatism, and respiratory complaints, while its essential oil is used in perfumery. A severe disease incidence of leaf blight was observed on the foliar portion of E. linguiformis at the Patkai mountain range of northeast India in September 2012. Initial symptoms of the disease are small brown water soaked flecks appearing on the upper leaf surface with diameter ranging from 0.5 to 3 cm, which later coalesced to form dark brown lesions with a well-defined border. Lesions often merged to form large necrotic areas, covering more than 90% of the leaf surface, which contributed to plant death. The disease significantly reduces the number of functional leaves. As disease progresses, stems and rhizomes were also affected, reducing quality and yield. The diseased leaf tissues were surface sterilized with 0.2% sodium hypochlorite for 2 min followed by rinsing in sterile distilled water and transferred into potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. After 3 days, the growing tips of the mycelium were transferred to PDA slants and incubated at 25 ± 2°C until conidia formation. Fungal colonies on PDA were dark gray to dark brown, usually zonate; stromata regularly and abundantly formed in culture. Conidia were straight to curved, ellipsoidal, 3-septate, rarely 4-septate, middle cells broad and darker than other two end cells, middle septum not median, smooth, 18 to 32 × 8 to 16 μm (mean 25.15 × 12.10 μm). Conidiophores were terminal and lateral on hyphae and stromata, simple or branched, straight or flexuous, often geniculate, septate, pale brown to brown, smooth, and up to 800 μm thick (2,3). Pathogen identification was performed by the Indian Type Culture Collection, Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (ITCC Accession No. 7895.10). Further molecular identity of the pathogen was confirmed as Curvularia aeria by PCR amplification and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the ribosomal DNA by using primers ITS4 and ITS5 (4). The sequence was submitted to GenBank (Accession No. MTCC11875). BLAST analysis of the fungal sequence showed 100% nucleotide similarity with Cochliobolus lunatus and Curvularia aeria. Pathogenicity tests were performed by spraying with an aqueous conidial suspension (1 × 106 conidia /ml) on leaves of three healthy Etlingera plants. Three plants sprayed with sterile distilled water served as controls. The first foliar lesions developed on leaves 7 days after inoculation and after 10 to 12 days, 80% of the leaves were severely infected. Control plants remained healthy. The inoculated leaves developed similar blight symptoms to those observed on naturally infected leaves. C. aeria was re-isolated from the inoculated leaves, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. The pathogenicity test was repeated twice. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the presence of C. aeria on E. linguiformis. References: (1) M. H. Arafat et al. Pharm. J. 16:33, 2013. (2) M. B. Ellis. Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes. CMI, Kew, Surrey, UK, 1971. (3) K. J. Martin and P. T. Rygiewicz. BMC Microbiol. 5:28, 2005. (4) C. V. Suberamanian. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 38:27, 1955.


Plant Disease ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boda Praveen ◽  
A. Nagaraja ◽  
M. K. Prasanna Kumar ◽  
Devanna Pramesh ◽  
K. B. Palanna ◽  
...  

Little millet (LM) is a minor cereal crop grown in the Indian sub-continent. During October 2018, dark brown, circular to oval necrotic spots surrounded by concentric rings were observed on the upper leaf surface of the LM (cv. VS-13) grown in the fields of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, India (13.0784oN, 77.5793oE). As the disease progressed, infected leaves became blighted. Disease incidence up to 53% was recorded in 3 fields of 0.4-hectare area each. Thirty symptomatic leaves were collected to isolate the associated causal organism. The margins of diseased tissue were cut into 5 × 5-mm pieces, surface-sterilized in 75% ethanol for 45 seconds followed by 1% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min, finally rinsed in sterile distilled water five times and placed on PDA. After 7 days of incubation at 25°C, greyish fungal colonies appeared on PDA. Single-spore isolations were performed to obtain ten isolates. Pure cultures of the fungus initially produced light gray aerial mycelia that later turned to dark grey. All isolates formed obclavate to pyriform conidia measured 22.66-48.97μm long and 6.55-13.79µm wide with 1-3 longitudinal and 2-7 transverse septa with a short beak (2.55-13.26µm) (n=50). Based on the conidial morphology, the fungus was identified as Alternaria sp. Further, the taxonomic identity of all ten isolates was confirmed as A. alternata using species-specific primers (AAF2/AAR3, Konstantinova et al. 2002) in a PCR assay. Later, one of the isolate UASB1 was selected, and its internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapdh), major allergen Alt a 1 (Alt a 1), major endo-polygalacturonase (endoPG), OPA10-2, and KOG1058 genes were amplified in PCR (White et al. 1990; Berbee et al. 1999; Woudenberg et al. 2015), and the resultant products were sequenced and deposited in the NCBI GenBank (ITS, MN919390; gapdh, MT637185; Alt a 1, MT882339; endoPG, MT882340; OPA10-2, MT882341; KOG1058, MT882342). Blastn analysis of ITS, gapdh, Alt a 1, endoPG, OPA10-2, KOG1058 gene sequences showed 99.62% (with AF347031), 97.36% (with AY278808), 99.58% (with AY563301), 99.10% (with JQ811978), 99.05% (with KP124632) and 99.23% (with KP125233) respectively, identity with reference strain CBS916.96 of A. alternata, confirming UASB1 isolate to be A. alternata. For pathogenicity assay, conidial suspension of UASB1 isolate was spray inoculated to ten healthy LM (cv. VS-13) plants (45 days old) maintained under protected conditions. The spore suspension was sprayed until runoff on healthy leaves, and ten healthy plants sprayed with sterile water served as controls. Later, all inoculated and control plants were covered with transparent polyethylene bags and were maintained in a greenhouse at 28±2 ◦C and 90% RH. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times. After 8 days post-inoculation, inoculated plants showed leaf blight symptoms as observed in the field, whereas no disease symptoms were observed on non-inoculated plants. Re-isolations were performed from inoculated plants, and the re-isolated pathogen was confirmed as A. alternata based on morphological and PCR assay (Konstantinova et al. 2002). No pathogens were isolated from control plants. There is an increasing acreage of LM crop in India, and this first report indicates the need for further studies on leaf blight management and the disease impacts on crop yields.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliul Hassan ◽  
Taehyun Chang

In South Korea, ovate-leaf atractylodes (OLA) (Atractylodes ovata) is cultivated for herbal medicine. During May to June 2019, a disease with damping off symptoms on OLA seedlings were observed at three farmer fields in Mungyeong, South Korea. Disease incidence was estimated as approximately 20% based on calculating the proportion of symptomatic seedlings in three randomly selected fields. Six randomly selected seedlings (two from each field) showing damping off symptoms were collected. Small pieces (1 cm2) were cut from infected roots, surface-sterilized (1 minute in 0.5% sodium hypochlorite), rinsed twice with sterile water, air-dried and then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Difco, and Becton Dickinson). Hyphal tips were excised and transferred to fresh PDA. Six morphologically similar isolates were obtained from six samples. Seven-day-old colonies, incubated at 25 °C in the dark on PDA, were whitish with light purple mycelia on the upper side and white with light purple at the center on the reverse side. Macroconidia were 3–5 septate, curved, both ends were pointed, and were 19.8–36.62 × 3.3–4.7 µm (n= 30). Microconidia were cylindrical or ellipsoid and 5.5–11.6 × 2.5–3.8 µm (n=30). Chlamydospores were globose and 9.6 –16.3 × 9.4 – 15.0 µm (n=30). The morphological characteristics of present isolates were comparable with that of Fusarium species (Maryani et al. 2019). Genomic DNA was extracted from 4 days old cultures of each isolate of SRRM 4.2, SRRH3, and SRRH5, EF-1α and rpb2 region were amplified using EF792 + EF829, and RPB2-5f2 + RPB2-7cr primer sets, respectively (Carbone and Kohn, 1999; O'Donnell et al. 2010) and sequenced (GenBank accession number: LC569791- LC569793 and LC600806- LC600808). BLAST query against Fusarium loci sampled and multilocus sequence typing database revealed that 99–100% identity to corresponding sequences of the F. oxysporum species complex (strain NRRL 28395 and 26379). Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis with MEGA v. 6.0 using the concatenated sequencing data for EF-1α and rpb2 showed that the isolates belonged to F. oxysporum species complex. Each three healthy seedlings with similar sized (big flower sabju) were grown for 20 days in a plastic pot containing autoclaved peat soil was used for pathogenicity tests. Conidial suspensions (106 conidia mL−1) of 20 days old colonies per isolate (two isolates) were prepared in sterile water. Three pots per strain were inoculated either by pouring 50 ml of the conidial suspension or by the same quantity of sterile distilled water as control. After inoculation, all pots were incubated at 25 °C with a 16-hour light/8-hour dark cycle in a growth chamber. This experiment repeated twice. Inoculated seedlings were watered twice a week. Approximately 60% of the inoculated seedlings per strain wilted after 15 days of inoculation and control seedlings remained asymptomatic. Fusarium oxysporum was successfully isolated from infected seedling and identified based on morphology and EF-1α sequences data to confirm Koch’s postulates. Fusarium oxysporum is responsible for damping-off of many plant species, including larch, tomato, melon, bean, banana, cotton, chickpea, and Arabidopsis thaliana (Fourie et al. 2011; Hassan et al.2019). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on damping-off of ovate-leaf atractylodes caused by F. oxysporum in South Korea. This finding provides a basis for studying the epidemic and management of the disease.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjian Wei ◽  
Han Zhang ◽  
Liling Xie ◽  
Han Liu ◽  
Fengying Luo ◽  
...  

Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro, the most widely cultivated bamboo species in southern China, has high ornamental value used in gardens, while culms are also used for buildings and as fibers and edibles (Gao et al. 2011). In June 2020, brown culm rot of bamboo was observed in Yibin city, Sichuan Province, in an area of approximately 1000 hectares. Disease incidence was approximately 60%, of which 30% of the plants had died. At the end of June, the lesions expanded but did not surround the base of the culm. From the end of June to the beginning of September, the lesions expanded upward and formed a streak, of which the color gradually deepened to purple-brown and black-brown. At the same time, the disease spots at the base of the culm also expanded horizontally. After the spots surrounded the base of the culm, the diseased bamboo died. Ten culms showing typical symptoms were collected and cut into 5×5 mm pieces at the junction of infected and healthy tissues. The tissues were sterilized for 1 to 2 min in 3% sodium hypochlorite, decontaminated in 75% alcohol for 3 to 5 min, placed on modified potato glucose agar (PDA) with streptomycin sulfate (50 μg/ml), and incubated at 26°C. Two isolates were obtained by the single-spore method (Sivan et al. 1992). The isolates both produced white round colonies similar to Diaporthe guangxiensis and two types of conidia: one was α type (5.5 to 8.2×1.0 to 2.8 µm, n=30), colourless, single-celled, undivided, and oval, containing two oil droplets; and β type (21.1 to 30.2×0.8 to 1.4 µm, n=30), colourless, single celled and hook shaped. Genomic DNA was extracted from the two isolates by using a fungal genomic DNA extraction kit (Solarbio, Beijing). The products were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers for the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS) region (White et al. 1990), calmodulin (CAL) gene (Carbone and Kohn 1999), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF) gene (Glass and Donaldson 1995) and beta-tubulin (TUB) gene (Soares et al. 2018). The amplified products were sequenced and blasted in GenBank (accession numbers MW380383, MW431318, MW431317 and MW431316 for ITS, CAL, TEF, and TUB, respectively). The ITS, CAL, TEF, and TUB sequences showed 100%, 99.33%, 100%, and 99.80% identity to D. guangxiensis JZB320094 (accession numbers MK335772.1, MK736727.1, MK523566.1, MK500168.1 in GenBank), respectively. To evaluate the pathogenicity of the isolates, five plants were each inoculated with two isolates. The cortex of potted bamboo were injured locally with sterilized needle, and the bamboo culms were inoculated with 100 μl of conidial suspension (105 cfu/ml). The surface of the inoculation wound was covered with gauze soaked with sterilized water. Five plants inoculated with sterile water were used as controls. The treated plants were maintained in a greenhouse at a temperature of 22 to 29°C and relative humidity of 70 to 80%. One month later, of all inoculated plants showed similar symptoms as those observed in the field. D. guangxiensis was re-isolated from all inoculated plants. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times with similar results. This is the first report of D. guangxiensis causing brown culm rot of D. latiflorus in China. These results will facilitate an enhanced understanding of factors affecting bamboo and the design of effective management strategies of the pathogenic species on bamboo and thus to develop corresponding control measures.


Plant Disease ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Tang ◽  
Fanfan Wang ◽  
Jie Guo ◽  
XiaoLiang Guo ◽  
Yuanyuan Duan ◽  
...  

Ophiopogon japonicus (Linn. f.) is a perennial evergreen in the Liliaceae family that is cultivated in many provinces of China due to its high medicinal and economic value . In April 2019, an unknown root rot disease was observed on the rhizomes of O. japonicus in a commercial production field in Xiangyang City (30.83° N, 112.53° E), Hubei Province. Disease incidence was approximately 10-20%. Symptoms included chlorosis, drooping and rolling of the leaves followed by rapid death of entire plant. Infected roots appeared to be softened, necrotic, and shriveled with reddish fungal growth. Infected tissues were disinfested on surface with 75% ethanol for 30 s and 0.1% HgCl2 for 1 min, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and dried. Small pieces (2 mm × 2 mm) were then excised from disinfested tissue and incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium at 25 ℃ in the dark. After 3 days of incubation, six isolates with 75% of isolation rate and same colony morphology were sub-cultured and purified by hyphal tip isolation. Purified cultures grew rapidly and media plates (70×70 mm ) were covered with hyphae after 3 to 4 days. Cultures were initially white and became pink or red over 5 days. Microconidia were not observed. Macroconidia were produced from monophialides on branched conidiophores, which were slender, equilaterally curved, and measured 32.5 to 53.5 μm in length and 3.5 to 5.1 μm in width, with three to five septa. All strains were preliminarily identified as Fusarium acuminatum (Eslie and Summerell 2006) on the basis of morphology. To confirm the identity of the pathogen, molecular identification was performed with strain MD1. Following DNA extraction, PCR was performed using the TSINGKE 2×T5 Direct PCR Mix kit. Target areas of amplification were internal transcribed spacer (ITS), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) and beta-tubulin gene (TUB2) regions of rDNA, using ITS1,4 (Yin et al. 1990) , RPB2-5f2/7cr (O’Donnell et al. 2010)and Btu-F-F01, Btu-F-R01 primers(Wang et al. 2014), respectively. Nucleotide sequences were deposited in NCBI (GenBank MT525360.1; MW164629; MT588110.1). BLAST analysis of the ITS sequence had 100% similarity to a 517 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (MK764994.1) ;RPB2 sequence had 100% similarity to a 687 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (HM068330.1) and TUB2 sequence had 99% similarity to a 964 bp portion of F. acuminatum sequence in GenBank (KT965741.1). A pathogenicity test was performed in laboratory on O. japonicus roots with isolate MD1. Mycelial plugs (5 mm) were excised from the margin of colony cultured for 5 days, and placed on three-years-old tuberous roots covered with wet sterile cotton and kept at 25℃, under 80% relative humidity. Controls were inoculated with non-colonized PDA plugs (5 mm). All treatments had three replicate plants. On incolated plants, white hyphae covered on O. japonicus roots 3 DPI became pink and by 5 DPI, roots had rot symptoms. By comparision, the control plants had no symptoms. The pathogen was reisolated from the inoculated roots and exhibited same morphological characteristics and ITS sequence as those of F. acuminatum. F. acuminatum was reported to cause fruit rot on postharvest pumpkin and Vaccinium corymbosum in China (Li et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2016).To our knowledge, this is the first report of root rot caused by F. acuminatum on O. japonicus in China.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document