scholarly journals First Report of Monosporascus cannonballus on Melons in Saudi Arabia

Plant Disease ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 81 (10) ◽  
pp. 1215-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Karlatti ◽  
F. M. Abdeen ◽  
M. S. Al-Fehaid

In the late summer of 1996, a root rot and vine decline was noticed on greenhouse grown melons (Cucumis melo L.) at the National Agriculture and Water Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Melons were grown on sandy clay soil and peat moss was spot applied as organic manure. The pH of the soil was 7.8. Disease symptoms first appeared at early stage of fruit maturity of the crop. Diseased vines exhibited stunting, yellowing, and, at a late stage, complete collapse of the leaf canopy. The roots showed discoloration, discrete lesions on all root systems, and loss of secondary and tertiary feeder roots. Numerous perithecia were observed on the secondary and tertiary roots only. Each ascus contained one large spherical ascospore. The fungus was isolated on potato dextrose agar and identified as a Monosporascus sp. (2). A pure culture was confirmed as Monosporascus cannonballus Pollack & Uecker. IMI (373485(01)) by IMI, Surrey, U.K. Pathogenicity was confirmed in a temperature-controlled growth chamber on the melon cv. Red Queen(F1). A medium that consisted of 3 liters of sand, 275 g of dried ground oat hulls, and 450 ml of distilled sterile water (1) was inoculated and incubated for 40 days. The colonized medium (100 ml) was mixed with a pasturized potting mix (sand/peat moss; 1:1) in 17-cm-diameter plastic pots. Five seeds were planted in each pot and, 15 days after germination, seedlings were thinned to one per pot. Noninfested pots were inoculated with sterile sand/oat hull medium. The pots were placed in chambers maintained at 30/20°C, day/night. At various intervals, the onset and severity of symptom expression were recorded. The isolate caused stunting and root necrosis. The fungus was reisolated from symptomatic plants. This report extends the known range of M. cannonballus to include Saudi Arabia. Other reports of this fungus are from India, Israel, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, and the U.S. References: (1) J. C. Mertely et al. Plant Dis. 77:667, 1993. (2) F. G. Pollack and F. A. Uecker. Mycologia 66:346, 1974.

Plant Disease ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sales ◽  
I. J. Bezerra do Nascimento ◽  
L. de Souza Freitas ◽  
R. Beltrán ◽  
J. Armengol ◽  
...  

Approximately 15,000 ha of melon (Cucumis melo L.) are grown in the northeastern section of Brazil, mostly for export to Europe during the winter months. Surveys for melon vine decline diseases were carried out in farms in the municipalities of Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte) and Quixeré (Ceará) during 2002 and 2003. Symptoms typical of vine decline were observed in several fields and included yellowing of crown leaves just prior to harvest and collapse of many of the vines. Affected plants exhibited necrotic root systems and lacked most of the secondary and tertiary feeder roots. Numerous perithecia were observed on roots which, when examined with a microscope, showed characteristic asci and ascospores of the fungus Monosporascus cannonballus Pollack & Uecker (2). Isolations were made from the crown region and primary and secondary roots of affected plants by excising 4- to 6-mm pieces that were surface sterilized for 30 to 60 s with 1.5% active chlorine solution. Seven tissue pieces from each plant part were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) containing 0.5 g liter-1 of streptomycin sulfate. Plates were examined daily for fungal growth for 7 days, and hyphal tips from all colonies were transferred to PDA for subsequent growth and sporulation. M. cannonballus was isolated from 50% of the root sections. All isolates produced only one ascospore per ascus. Pathogenicity of four isolates was confirmed in the greenhouse on the muskmelon cv. Temprano Rochet. Inoculum was produced in a sand-oat hulls (Avena sativa L.) medium (0.5 liter of sand, 46 g of ground oat hulls, and 37.5 ml of distilled water) and incubated at 25°C for 1 month. Colony forming units (CFU) were quantified by serial dilution using 1% hydroxyethyl cellulose. A sterilized mixture of equal portions (vol/vol) of sand and peat moss was used to fill plastic pots (17 cm in diameter), and inoculum was added to produce an inoculum concentration of 20 CFU g-1. Five melon seeds were planted in each pot and after germination, were thinned to one seedling per pot. There were five replicated pots for each treatment with an equal number of uninfested pots. Plants were evaluated for disease 45 days after sowing. Roots were exposed by carefully washing the potting mix away. All isolates of M. cannonballus tested were highly aggressive and caused severe root necrosis compared with the noninoculated control plants. M. cannonballus was reisolated from symptomatic plants, confirming Koch's postulates. Double cropping in the same fields for several years has created serious problems in Brazil, which are related to this soilborne pathogen that also causes root rot and vine decline of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) worldwide (1). To our knowledge this is the first report of M. cannonballus in Brazil and South America. References: (1) R. D. Martyn and M. E. Miller. Plant Dis. 80:716, 1996. (2) F. G. Pollack and F. A. Uecker. Mycologia 66:346, 1974.


Plant Disease ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sales ◽  
C. V. S. Santana ◽  
D. R. S. Nogueira ◽  
K. J. P. Silva ◽  
I. M. Guimarães ◽  
...  

In 2008 and 2009, vine decline symptoms were observed in three watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) fields located in the municipalities of Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte State) and Quixeré (Ceará State) in northeastern Brazil. Symptoms included yellowing of crown leaves just prior to harvest and collapse of many of the vines. Mean maximum daily temperatures for the first and second half of the season were 28.6 and 25.1°C, respectively. Affected plants exhibited necrotic root systems and lacked most of the secondary and tertiary feeder roots. Numerous perithecia on the roots contained asci and ascospores characteristics of Monosporascus cannonballus Pollack & Uecker (1,2). Small pieces of primary and secondary roots were surface disinfected and plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium with 0.5 g liter–1 of streptomycin sulfate and incubated for 7 days at 25°C in the dark. Hyphal tips from all colonies were transferred to PDA and further incubated for 30 to 40 days at 25°C in the dark for subsequent growth and sporulation. Isolations consistently yielded colonies of white mycelium, which became dark grayish after 10 to 15 days, and perithecia with one-spored asci. The internal transcribed spacer regions of ribosomal DNA of isolates 18-5 and 19-1 were sequenced (GenBank Accession Nos. GQ891544 and GQ891545). These sequences were identical to sequences of M. cannonballus (GenBank Accession Nos. AM167936 and AM167937). Pathogenicity of these two isolates was confirmed on watermelon cv. Crimson Sweet in a greenhouse maintained at 25 to 30°C. Inoculum was produced in a sand-oat hulls (Avena sativa) medium (0.5 liter of sand, 46 g of ground oat hulls, and 37.5 ml of distilled water) and incubated at 25°C for 1 month. CFU were quantified by serial dilution using 1% hydroxyethyl cellulose. A sterilized mixture of equal portions (vol/vol) of sand and peat moss was used to fill 17-cm-diameter plastic pots and inoculum was added to produce an inoculum concentration of 20 CFU g–1. Five watermelon seeds planted in each pot were later thinned to one seedling per pot. There were five replicated pots for each treatment with an equal number of noninfested pots. Plants were evaluated for disease 45 days after sowing. All isolates of M. cannonballus were highly aggressive and caused severe root necrosis compared with the noninoculated controls. M. cannonballus was reisolated from symptomatic plants, confirming Koch's postulates. In 2004, M. cannonballus was reported in the same Brazilian cucurbit-growing areas causing root rot and vine decline of muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) (3), but to our knowledge, this is the first report of M. cannonballus on watermelon in Brazil. References: (1) R. D. Martyn and M. E. Miller. Plant Dis. 80:716, 1996. (2) F. G. Pollack and F. A. Uecker. Mycologia 66:346, 1974. (3) R. Sales Jr. et al. Plant Dis. 88:84, 2004.


Plant Disease ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 96 (7) ◽  
pp. 1068-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. I. Chew-Madinaveitia ◽  
A. Gaytán-Mascorro ◽  
T. Herrera-Pérez

In 2009, 2010, and 2011, melon plants (Cucumis melo L.) exhibited vine decline in commercial fields in the Municipality of Viesca, State of Coahuila, in the north-central region of Mexico known as La Comarca Lagunera. Symptoms included wilting, leaf yellowing, and vine collapse prior to harvest. Diseased plants showed necrotic root lesions and loss of secondary and tertiary roots. Numerous perithecia containing asci and ascospores typical of Monosporascus cannonballus Pollack & Uecker (3) were found in the root system. M. cannonballus is a typical fungus of hot semiarid climates such as La Comarca Lagunera in which daytime temperatures above 40°C are frequent during the melon growing season. Small root pieces were disinfected with 1.5% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min and plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium with 0.5 g l–1 streptomycin sulfate and incubated for 7 days at 25°C under dark conditions. The mycelium of the fungus colony was initially white, turning gray about 3 weeks later and yielding black perithecia with one ascospore per asci. The internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA of isolate 4 was sequenced and submitted to GenBank with Accession No. JQ51935. Pathogenicity of this isolate was confirmed on melon plants (cv. Cruiser) in the greenhouse at 25 to 32°C. Fungus inoculum was produced in a sand-oat hull medium (0.5 l of sand, 45 g of oat hulls, and 100 ml of distilled water), and incubated at 25°C for 50 days (1). Melon seeds were sown in sterile sand in 20-cm diameter and 12-cm depth polyurethane containers, and the inoculum was added to produce a concentration of 20 CFU g–1. Sowing was done in five inoculated containers and thinned to two plants per container, each container representing a replication. Plants were also grown in five noninoculated containers that were used as controls. After 50 days under greenhouse conditions, plants were evaluated for disease symptoms. Melon plants inoculated with M. cannonballus exhibited root necrosis as opposed to healthy roots observed in noninoculated plants. M. cannonballus was reisolated from symptomatic plants, confirming Koch's postulates. M. cannonballus causes root rot and vine decline on melon and has been reported in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Libya, the Netherlands (plants from Russia), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, and the United States. M. cannonballus was reported in 1996 in southeastern Mexico in the State of Colima, where watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum.& Nakai) showed wilting and plant collapse prior to harvest (2). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of M. cannonballus on melon in Mexico. This is relevant because La Comarca Lagunera region is one of the major melon producing areas in Mexico and M. cannonballus is a pathogen that may cause yield losses of up to 100%. References: (1) B. D. Bruton et al. Plant Dis. 84:907, 2000. (2) R. D. Martyn et al. Plant Dis. 80:1430, 1996. (3) F. G. Pollack and F. A. Uecker. Mycologia 66:346, 1974.


2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (7) ◽  
pp. 794-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Stanghellini ◽  
Iraj J. Misaghi

Monosporascus cannonballus, a host-specific root-infecting ascomycete, is the causal agent of a destructive disease of melon (Cucumis melo L.) known as vine decline. Ascospores germinate only in the rhizosphere of melon plants growing in field soil. However, no germination occurs in the rhizosphere of melon plants if the field soil is heated to temperatures >50°C prior to infestation with ascospores. This observation suggested that germination is mediated by one or more heat-sensitive members of the soil microflora. Although bacteria or actinomycetes were heretofore suspected as the germination-inducing microbes, our data demonstrate that Olpidium bornovanus, an obligate, host-specific, root-infecting zoosporic fungus, is responsible. In four experiments conducted in autoclaved field soil amended with various population densities of culturally produced ascospores, significant ascospore germination was recorded only in the rhizosphere of cantaloupe seedlings colonized by O. bornovanus.


HortScience ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 526B-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Wolff ◽  
Daniel I. Leskovar ◽  
Mark C. Black ◽  
Marvin E. Miller

The effect of zero, one, and two fruits per vine on plant growth and reaction to Monosporascus root rot/vine decline were investigated. In the first study, four cultivars with differing levels of tolerance were evaluated (`Primo', `Deltex', `Caravelle', `Magnum 45'). Vine decline ratings were taken weekly during the harvest period for 4 weeks. Treatments with no fruit showed delayed and less-severe vine decline symptoms. Temperature also effected vine decline symptom expression. In a Fall test, with lower temperatures during fruit maturity, symptoms were delayed in all treatments and often absent in treatments with no fruit load. Vine decline symptom expression is greatly effected by physiological (fruit load) and temperature stress. A subsequent study was conducted to more precisely quantify the effect of various fruit loads on shoot/root partitioning and vine decline symptoms. In addition to growth parameters root disease ratings were taken. `Caravelle', the most-susceptible genotype, was grown under differing fruit loads as mentioned above in Weslaco and Uvalde, Texas. As fruit load increased, root size decreased. Increased vine decline symptoms were observed under higher fruit loads. The implications on germplasm screening and breeding for resistance will be discussed.


HortScience ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 827F-827
Author(s):  
David W. Wolff

We conducted a field screen of 130 melon cultigens to identify potential sources of host-plant resistance to Monosporascus cannonballus. Seed were sown in Speedling trays with inoculated or non-inoculated media. Plants were transplanted into a field known to be highly infested with Monosporascus cannonballus. Noninoculated plots were planted in rows that were fumigated with Telone II. Cultigens were arranged in a randomized complete block with three replications in each treatment (fumigated, nonfumigated). A disease symptom rating (1 = complete death to 5 = no symptoms) was taken at 78 and 90 days post-transplanting. Disease symptoms were most severe and occurred earliest in the inoculated, nonfumigated plots. Natural infection by Monosporascus occurred in the fumigated plots as over 95% of root samples collected contained perithecia. At the second rating date, 108 of the 130 cultigens tested were classified as moderately to highly susceptible (rating < 2.5). The four most resistant genotypes had a second rating equal or close to 4.0 (`Galia', `Deltex', `Rocky Sweet', and `Charlynne'). A group of 14 genotypes showed moderate resistance with a second rating of 3.0. Included in this group were `Morning Ice', `Doublon', `Israeli', `MR-1', `Santa Clause', and `Primo'. The physiological stress of a concentrated fruit set increases severity of vine decline symptoms.


Weed Science ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 683-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Jones ◽  
W. Thomas Lanini ◽  
Joseph G. Hancock

Gliocladium virens, when grown on peat moss amended with sucrose and ammonium nitrate and then applied to soil, resulted in root necrosis. Herbicidal activity was correlated with fungal production of the phytotoxin viridiol. Viridiol had a wide spectrum of activity; it was particularly effective against annual composite species but was less effective in monocot control. Emergence of most weeds was reduced >90% at application rates of 8.7% (of total volume) or less. Treated seedling dry weights were drastically reduced. Applications of 4.5% reduced root and shoot weight of redroot pigweed by 93 and 98%, respectively. Crops were affected at higher treatment levels; however, the toxicity was readily avoided by applying the mycoherbicide out of the root zone of the crop, instead applying it between the seed and the soil surface. Viridiol production, which confers herbicidal activity, was detected 3 days after incorporation of the fungus-peat mixture. Viridiol production peaked on days 5 and 6 at approximately 25 μg viridiol/100 ml soil, based upon an application rate of 11%, then declined to undetectable levels by the end of 2 weeks.


Author(s):  
Majed Saleh M. Aldayhum ◽  
Anas Abdullah R. Alshehri ◽  
Dlaim H. AlQahtani ◽  
Eman Yahia Alfussaily ◽  
Suha Abdulrahman S. Althibait ◽  
...  

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer all over the world and the second leading cause of the cancer death in both sexes. CRC is the second most common cancer in Kingdom Saudi Arabia. However, this aspect was not recently studied.Methods: This is a retrospectively cohort based study. We collected and analyzed the records of the patients with CRC diagnosed at Aseer Central Hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia from January 2008 to June 2016. A pre-specified data sheet was used to collect information regarding socio-demographics, age, Altitude, site of tumor, clinical presentation, outcome and prognosis as well as histopathological pattern of cancer and the stages of disease. Descriptive statistics was performed using SPSS.Results: A total of 291 cases of CRC were registered in the Aseer Central Hospital. 171 cases 58.87% were males while 120 cases 41.2% were females. The mean age of patients (SD) at the time of diagnosis was 59.38 years. At the time of diagnosis, 219 patients 84.6% presented with early stage disease and 40 15.4% had distant metastasis advanced stage. The most frequent CRC located in sigmoid 26.5%, rectal 23.7%and 14% in ascending. The moderately differentiate adenocarcinoma grade of tumor is being the most common grade among all variants 75.6%.Conclusions: In this study, we have nearly similar results found in previously published study by Alshehri et al. Males considered most affected, most of the patients were more than 50 years, 84.6% of the patients came with early stage disease. Left side colon were the most common site of CRC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Fahad Saleh Alolayan ◽  
Hanan Ali Saidi

<p>In Saudi Arabia, sales force positions have been totally occupied by men until recently. The Saudi Government has taken a number of promising legislative steps to promote women’s employment in the retail industry, especially in department stores that specialize in women’ goods. Saudi women are now entering such positions, and they need encouragement and support in order to retain their place in the labor market and to reduce their high rate of unemployment. At this early stage of Saudi female employment in the sales force, this study aims to support them by evaluating the level of work motivation and job satisfaction in their workplace. Utilizing the Herzberg model<strong>,</strong> data was collected from 280 female salespeople. The results show that Saudi female salespeople are not well motivated at work, and they have a low contentment with the working environment. It is therefore recommended that the companies hiring female salespeople take the issue of job satisfaction and work motivation seriously by giving women more responsibilities, ameliorating the conditions of advancement and growth, increasing the number of training programs, and improving the work conditions as well as increasing salaries.</p><p> </p>


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