Identification of Pathogenic Fusarium spp. Responsible for Root Rot of Angelica sinensis and Characterization of Their Biological Enemies in Dingxi, China

• Published in: Plant disease p. PDIS06211249RE
• Main Authors: Liu, Yang, Tian, Yuan, Zhao, Xia, Yue, Liang, Uwaremwe, Constantine, Zhou, Qin, Wang, Yun, Zhang, Yubao, Dun, Zhiheng, Cui, Zengtuan, Wang, Ruoyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.2022
• Subjects: pathogenicity tests; root rot disease; antagonistic bacteria; Angelica sinensis; Fusarium spp
• ISSN: 0191-2917
• DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-06-21-1249-RE

Root rot is a serious disease in plantations of , severely reducing yield and quality and threatening sustainable production. isolates ( = 32) were obtained from field samples of root rot tissue, leaves, and infected soil. Isolates were identified by comparison of the sequences of their internal transcribed spacer region and translation elongation factor 1-α to sequences of known species in the National Center for Biotechnology Information database. These isolates include (43.75%), (31.25%), (9.37%), (6.25%), (6.25%), and (3.12%). For pathogenicity testing under greenhouse conditions, seven isolates were selected based on a phylogenetic analysis, including four strains of and one strain each of , , and . The seven isolates were all pathogenic but differed in their ability to infect: The four strains were capable of causing root rot in at 100% incidence and were highly aggressive. Furthermore, the symptoms of root rot induced by those seven isolates were consistent with typical root rot cases in the field, but their disease severity varied. Observed histopathological preparations of -infected seedlings and tissue slide results showed that this fungal species can penetrate epidermal cells and colonize the cortical cells where it induces necrosis and severe plasmolysis. Plate confrontation experiments showed that isolated rhizosphere bacteria inhibited the pathogens that cause root rot in . Our results provide timely information about the use of biocontrol agents for suppression of root rot disease.