A study on the pathogen species and physiological races of tomato Fusarium wilt in Shanxi,China

In order to clarify the main pathogens of tomato Fusarium wilt in Shanxi Province, China, morphological identification, elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1α) sequence analysis, specific primer amplification and pathogenicity tests were applied to study the isolates which were recovered from diseased plants collected from 17 different districts of Shanxi Province. The results were as follows: 1) Through morphological and molecular identification, the following 7 species of Fusarium were identified: F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. verticillioides, F. subglutinans, F. chlamydosporum, F. sporotrichioides, and F. semitectum; 2) 56 isolates of F. oxysporum were identified using specific primer amplification, among which, 29, 5 and 6 isolates were respectively identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici physiological race 1, race 2, and race 3; 3) pathogenicity test indicated the significant pathogenicity of F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. verticillioides, and F. subglutinans to tomato plant. Therefore, among these 4 species confirmed as pathogenic to tomato in Shanxi, the highest isolation rate (53.3%) corresponded to F. oxysporum. Three physiological species, race 1, race 2, and race 3 of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici are detected in Shanxi, among which race 1 is the most widespread pathogen and is also considered as the predominant race.