New cylindrocladium diseases of strawberry and coral bells caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cylindrocladium canadense</Emphasis>

Based on inoculation experiments and morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies, Cylindrocladium damping-off of strawberry and Cylindrocladium blight of coral bells in Japan were demonstrated to be caused by Cylindrocladium canadense. This is the first report of a disease on strawberry and coral bells caused by this fungus.     

Anthracnose of belmore sentry palm (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Howea belmoreana</Emphasis> Becc.) caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Colletotrichum gloeosporioides</Emphasis> (Penzig) Penzig et Saccardo

Severe leaf spots were found on the ornamental plant, belmore sentry palm (Howea belmoreana), grown in pots in a greenhouse in Ibusuki, Kagoshima, Japan in 2006. The isolated fungus caused the same symptoms after artificial inoculation and was identified morphologically and molecularly as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. In this first report of the disease, the name anthracnose of belmore sentry palm (kenchayashi-tanso-byo in Japanese) is proposed.     

Aloe ring spot,a new disease of aloe caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Haematonectria haematococca</Emphasis> (Berk. &; Broome) Samuels &; Nirenberg (anamorph: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fusarium</Emphasis> sp.)

A ring spot disease of Aloe vera was found on leaves of potted seedlings of Aloe vera in Hachijojima and Chichijima Islands, Tokyo. From tissue of ring spot lesions, a fungus producing Fusarium-type conidia was consistently isolated. After 1 month, reddish perithecia of nectriaceous fungus had formed on the colonies of this isolate on PDA. These nectriaceous and Fusarium fungi were identified as Haematonectria haematococca and Fusarium sp., respectively. From a single ascospore isolation, the former was confirmed to be the teleomorph of the Fusarium sp. Typical ring spot lesions were reproduced by artificial inoculations using single ascospore and single conidium isolates. Inoculations of five species of genus Aloe revealed that they were highly susceptible except for A. arborescens. This is the first report of a disease on Aloe caused by H. haematococca (anamorph: Fusarium sp.) in Japan, and it was named aloe ring spot.     

Phylogenetic diversity of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Calonectria ilicicola</Emphasis> causing Cylindrocladium black rot of peanut and red crown rot of soybean in southern China

Calonectria ilicicola Boedijin & Reitsma (anamorph: Cylindrocladium parasiticum Crous, Wingfield & Alfennas) is an important pathogen worldwide, which causes Cylindrocladium black rot (CBR) in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and red crown rot (RCR) in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. We isolated the CBR and RCR pathogens from heavily diseased peanut and soybean fields in southern China and assessed their pathogenicity. Two inoculation methods were applied separately to evaluate the pathogenicity of different C. ilicicola strains on peanut cultivar Yueyou 13. Our results indicate that the Chinese C. ilicicola strains exhibited a range of virulence on peanut, with strains of soybean origin exhibiting a weak virulence relative to strains isolated from peanut. Multilocus sequence type analysis indicates that the C. ilicicola strains partitioned into two distinct clades, which were heavily structured based on geographical origin. Phylogenetic results demonstrated that the origins of C. ilicicola in southern China were multiple. This study also revealed that the backgrounds of CBR pathogens may be different from those of RCR pathogens.     

洛阳牡丹新病害—柱枝孢叶斑病

为了明确河南省洛阳地区牡丹叶部一种新病害的病原种类,对采自田间的典型症状叶片进行了常规组织分离,对单孢菌株进行了形态鉴定、rDNA ITS序列分析及致病性测定.结果表明,病原菌在PDA培养基上菌落初期白色绒毛状,后期红褐色.分生孢子梗通常呈扫帚状,有2～3个分支,末端膨大呈泡囊状.分生孢子直棒状,两端钝圆,有0～1个隔膜,大小为(38.4～86.4)μm× (4.6～5.9)μm,平均60.1 μm×5.2 μm.离体叶片与活体植株接种结果表明,该菌均能侵染牡丹叶片并引起与田间相同的症状.据此将分离物鉴定为Cylindrocladium canadense,将该病害命名为牡丹柱枝孢叶斑病.     

Brown spot disease of tree peony caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cylindrocladium canadense</Emphasis> in China

In the summer of 2008, a brown spot disease in cultivated tree peony Paeonia suffruticosa was found in Shandong Province, China. The causal fungus was isolated from diseased leaves and identified as Cylindrocladium canadense J.C. Kang, Crous & C.L. Schoch based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies. Inoculation of the peony leaves with the isolated fungus resulted in similar symptoms, demonstrating that the disease is caused by this species. This report is the first of a disease on tree peony caused by C. canadense in China.     

Black leaf spot and circular leaf spot of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Farfugium japonicum</Emphasis> (L.) Kitamura caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoma</Emphasis> spp.

In May 1998 and 1999, two types of leaf spot (black type and brown type) caused by Phoma spp. were found on Farfugium japonicum in Tokyo and in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The fungus isolated from black-type lesions caused only black-type lesions, and the fungus from brown-type lesions caused only brown-type lesions. We propose to name these diseases black leaf spot of F. japonicum (kokuhan-byo in Japanese) for the disease with black lesions and circular leaf spot of F. japonicum (rinmon-byo in Japanese) for the disease with brown lesions. This is the first report on leaf diseases of F. japonicum caused by Phoma spp.     

Corynespora leaf spot of scarlet sage caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Corynespora cassiicola</Emphasis>

A leaf spot disease of scarlet sage (Salvia splendens Sellow ex J.A. Shultes) found in Kanagawa and Tokyo prefectures was demonstrated to be caused by Corynespora cassiicola (Berk. and Curt.) Wei based on inoculation experiments, and morphological identification of the pathogenic fungus. Isolates of C. cassiicola from cucumber, green pepper, and hydrangea were also pathogenic to scarlet sage leaves. Although the isolates from cucumber, green pepper, and hydrangea were pathogenic to scarlet sage leaves, the scarlet sage isolate was not pathogenic to cucumber, green pepper, hydrangea, eggplant, tomato or soybean.     

Population structure of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cylindrocladium parasiticum</Emphasis> infecting peanuts (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arachis hypogaea</Emphasis>) in Georgia,USA

Cylindrocladium parasiticum is an important pathogen of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) causing the disease Cylindrocladium black rot. The genetic structure of this haploid pathogen was determined for populations associated with peanut in Georgia, USA. Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to determine genetic and genotypic diversity among three sub-populations representing the geographic distribution of peanut production in Georgia. Among 200 isolates collected, only 10 unique multilocus haplotypes were identified, with one multilocus haplotype occurring 176 times. Although no evidence for random mating was observed, the existence of loops in a constructed haplotype network hint at the possibility of recombination events. The absence of random mating might therefore be attributed to the homothallic nature of C. parasiticum as well as the clonality of the population, without excluding the possible occurrence of recombination. Cylindrocladium parasiticum thus appears to consist of a genetically homogeneous population throughout Georgia with mainly clonal reproduction or inbreeding contributing to the observed population genetic structure.     

First report on the flower-rot of Crossandra infundibuliformis, a commercial flower crop in India

Crossandra infundibuliformis (L.) Nees is an important commercial plant in many cities in India, which is useful for bouquets, garlands, and decorations. The crop is affected by a new flower rot caused by Fusarium pallidoroseum (Cooke) Sacc. Severely infected plants had purplish leaves, decayed flowers and shortened internodes and were colonized by the cottony colonies of the fungus. The fungus was isolated and caused the same symptoms on plants after inoculation.     

Morphological and molecular characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oidium</Emphasis> subgenus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Reticuloidium</Emphasis> (powdery mildew) newly occurred on cucumber in Japan

In 2002, a powdery mildew with catenate conidia lacking fibrosin bodies was found on cucumber in a greenhouse in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Morphological observation revealed that the fungus belongs to Oidium subgenus Reticuloidium, anamorph of the genus Golovinomyces. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences of the rDNA ITS regions and D1/D2 domains of the 28S rDNA indicated that the fungus belongs to the clade of G. orontii with other Golovinomyces fungi from a wide range of host plants, suggesting that the fungus was newly transported from abroad. Because there has been no prior report of cucumber powdery mildew caused by Reticuloidium, further research on the physiology, epidemiology, control and resistant cucumber varieties is required.     

Resistance in leaf blades assessed by counting conidia correlates with whole-plant-specific resistance in leaf sheaths in a compatible rice–Magnaporthe oryzae interaction

Resistance in the leaf blades of rice plants against a virulent race of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae was quantitatively examined using a modified spot inoculation method. Numbers of conidia produced in the lesions were affected by plant age and paralleled the frequency of resistance infection types, which is indicative of whole-plant-specific resistance (WPSR), in the inoculated leaf sheaths of the corresponding plants. Exogenous abscisic acid treatment, which suppresses WPSR, also increased the susceptibility of the leaf blades. These results indicate a correlation between the resistance of the leaf blades and the WPSR in the leaf sheaths.     

First report of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Grapevine Algerian latent virus</Emphasis> disease on statice plants (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Limonium sinuatum</Emphasis>) in Japan

A viral disease was found in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, on statice (Limonium sinuatum) with chlorotic leaf spot, necrotic stunt, and dwarfing. Spherical virus particles 30 nm in diameter were isolated from infected plants and statice seedlings and caused identical symptoms 4 weeks after mechanical inoculation. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the coat protein showed 98% and 98.7% identities with those of Grapevine Algerian latent virus (GALV) nipplefruit strain. This is the first report in Japan of a viral disease on statice caused by GALV. The nucleotide sequence data reported here are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under accession AB461854.     

Anthracnose of Japanese radish caused by Colletotrichum dematium

Anthracnose of Japanese radish found in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures was demonstrated to be caused by Colletotrichum dematium based on inoculation experiments and morphological and molecular identification of the pathogenic fungus. Although symptoms of Japanese radish anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum higginsianum were similar to those caused by C. dematium, damage by the latter pathogen was more severe than that by C. higginsianum.     

Gummy stem blight of balsam pear caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Didymella bryoniae</Emphasis> and its anamorph <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoma cucurbitacearum</Emphasis>

Gummy stem blight of balsam pear found in the Kanto district and in the Hokkaido Prefecture was demonstrated to be caused by Didymella bryoniae (Auerswald) Rehm based on inoculation experiments, molecular analysis, and morphological identification of the pathogenic fungus. This fungus was also pathogenic to related plants belonging to Cucurbitaceae. The imperfect stage of the fungus was identified as Phoma cucurbitacearum (Fr.: Fr.) Sacc. based on morphological similarities.     

First report of leaf spot disease on oil palm caused by Pestalotiopsis theae in Thailand

A leaf spot on oil palm, caused by Pestalotiopsis theae, was found in a plantation of Elaeis guineensis for the first time in the world in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. The fungus was isolated from lesions on leaves, and its pathogenicity was confirmed. Pathogenicity tests showed that P. theae could infect E. guineensis, which developed the same symptoms after inoculation as those observed naturally in the field. The fungus was identified based on morphological characteristics and confirmed using comparisons of DNA sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1, ITS2 and 5.8S rDNA. This report is the first on oil palm leaf spot disease caused by P. theae.     

Pythium rot of figmarigold (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lampranthus spectabile</Emphasis>) caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pythium aphanidermatum</Emphasis>

A new leaf rot disease was found on the leaves of figmarigold (Lampranthus spectabile). The causal organism, identified as Pythium aphanidermatum was found to cause the same symptoms after artificial inoculation and was then reisolated from the inoculated plants. We propose to name the disease Pythium rot of figmarigold.     

Yield Reduction in Wheat in Relation to Leaf Disease From Yellow (tan) Spot and Septoria Nodorum Blotch

Yellow or tan spot (caused by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis) and septoria nodorum blotch (caused by Phaeosphaeria nodorum) occur together and are a constraint to wheat yields in Australia. Recently, higher crop yields and lower fungicide costs have made fungicides an attractive management tool against these diseases. Yield-loss under different rates of progress of yellow spot and septoria nodorum blotch was examined in four experiments over three years to define the relationship between disease severity and yield. In these experiments, differences in disease were first promoted by inoculations either with P. tritici-repentis-infected stubble or aqueous spore suspensions of P. nodorum. Disease progress was further manipulated with foliar application of fungicide. The pattern of disease development varied in each year under the influence of different rainfall patterns. The inoculation and fungicide treatments produced differences in disease levels after flag leaf emergence. The infection of yellow spot or septoria nodorum blotch caused similar losses in grain yield, ranging from 18% to 31%. The infection by either disease on the flag or penultimate leaf provided a good indication of yield-loss. Disease severity on flag leaves during the milk stage of the crop or an integration of disease as area under the disease progress curve on the flag leaves based on thermal time explained more than 80% variance in yield in a simple regression model. The data provided information towards the development of disease management strategies for the control of septoria nodorum blotch and yellow spot.     

Burkholderia gladioli associated with symptoms of bacterial grain rot and leaf-sheath browning of rice plants

Rice plants with bacterial leaf-sheath browning and grain rot were observed in Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan during the autumn seasons of 1995 and 1996. Burkholderia spp. were consistently isolated from the infected leaf sheaths and grains. These isolates were pathogenic and induced symptoms of seedling rot, grain rot, and leaf-sheath browning in rice plants, as well as in some orchidaceous plants (cymbidium, dendrobium, and oncidium leaves), gladiolus leaves, and onion bulbs. On the basis of morphological, physiological and pathological tests, and species-specific polymerase chain reaction, the isolates were identified as belonging to either Burkholderia glumae or Burkholderia gladioli. B. gladioli, as well as B. glumae, attacked rice plants after artificial inoculation and reproduced the symptoms similar to those after natural infections. We confirmed that rice is an additional natural host of B. gladioli. It is clarified that bacterial grain rot of rice is caused not only by B. glumae but also by B. gladioli.     

水稻新病害叶鞘黑斑病的病原鉴定

 2011年7月,在湖南省花垣县水稻上发现一种新的病害,症状表现为叶鞘上出现长椭圆形黑斑,病健交界模糊。分离到的4隔孢弯孢霉(HNHY001)经离体和活体人工接种均可产生黑斑;另一种黑孢霉菌株(HNHY002)不引致叶鞘黑斑。从湖南省栽培水稻150份种子样本中共分离到弯孢霉菌株27个,其中4个菌株具有4隔孢子。这4个菌株中1个菌株不产生子座,其余3个均产生分枝子座。经人工接种除不产生子座的外,其余3个菌株均能产生典型的叶鞘黑斑。HNHY001的rDNA-ITS序列(GenBank登录号JQ360963)经BLAST搜索,与之最接近的几个序列为膝曲旋孢腔菌(Cochliobolus geniculatus)及其有丝分裂产孢种—4隔孢弯孢霉。鉴于单独以及与其它4隔孢弯孢霉菌株进行对峙培养均未产生有性阶段,建议根据此菌无性阶段特征即分生孢子较直、4横隔、子座分枝等特征,鉴定为膝曲旋孢腔菌有丝分裂产孢种之一的假弯孢(C.fallax)。水稻叶鞘黑斑病系国内外首次报道。