Fusarium species in declining wild apple forests on the northern slope of the Tian Shan Mountains in north‐western China

Wild apple forests in the Tian Shan Mountains in north‐western China have been adversely affected by an unknown disease in recent years. Symptoms attributed to this disease that affects wild apple trees include xylem browning and dieback which are suggestive of infection by Fusarium species. Therefo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inForest pathology = Journal de pathologie forestière = Zeitschrift für Forstpathologie Vol. 49; no. 5
Main Authors Cheng, Yuan, Zhao, Wenxia, Lin, Ruozhu, Yao, Yanxia, Yu, Shaoshuai, Zhou, Zhongfu, Zhang, Xuechao, Gao, Yahui, Huai, Wenxia, Woodward, Stephen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.10.2019
Subjects
Apples
Browning
Dieback
Forests
Fruit trees
Fungi
Fusarium
Host plants
Leaves
Mountains
Pathogenicity
Pathogens
Phylogeny
Population decline
Signs and symptoms
Species
Species classification
wild apple forests
Xylem
xylem browning
China
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Summary:Wild apple forests in the Tian Shan Mountains in north‐western China have been adversely affected by an unknown disease in recent years. Symptoms attributed to this disease that affects wild apple trees include xylem browning and dieback which are suggestive of infection by Fusarium species. Therefore, the research team conducted the first survey for Fusarium in the afflicted wild apple forests. Twig samples with symptoms of xylem browning and dieback were collected in the Xinyuan, Gongliu, Yining and Huocheng Counties of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China. Based on phylogenetic analyses and morphological observation, sixty strains of Fusarium accounted for 48% of the total number of fungi isolated from samples were subsequently classified into six species including twenty‐four F. avenaceum, seventeen F. solani, ten F. tricinctum, five F. proliferatum, two F. sporotrichioides and two unfamiliar Fusarium sp. 1. The five previously known species of Fusarium were then tested for pathogenicity to leaves and twigs in vitro. The results indicated that all of the species, except for F. tricinctum, can cause obvious lesions on the leaves of host plants and on the twigs of Fuji and wild apple. This is the first report of Fusarium species pathogenicity in Xinjiang wild apple forests, confirming a new host for these pathogens in this study.
ISSN:1437-4781
1439-0329
DOI:10.1111/efp.12542