Identification of W-type and R-type isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides

W-type isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides grown on a maize-based agar and exposed to near- ultra-violet radiation at c . 13°C produced a greenish black colour, whilst R-type isolates produced a pink or pale brown colour in the agar medium. More colonies from directly plated lesions or from spore suspensions could be recognized as P. herpotrichoides and could be more easily differentiated as W-type or R-type or as mixtures of both by colour production on maize agar (MA) than by colony morphology on potato dextrose agar (PDA), despite the presence of other fungi. Isolates with intermediate morphology on PDA were positively identified as W-type or R-type on MA; their pathogenicities to wheat and rye seedlings were usually similar to those of W-type or R-type isolates with typical colony morphology, confirming their identification on MA. Drops of mixed suspensions of W-type and R-type spores on PDA formed fast-growing colonies with smooth margins which sometimes had slow-growing sectors with feathery margins. Drops of the same mixtures on MA formed greenish black colonies which sometimes had pink or pale brown sectors. However, when these mixtures were spread onto MA, W-type and R-type colonies could easily be differentiated by colour.