Macrophomina vaccinii sp. nov. causing blueberry stem blight in China

By

Zhao, Lin
Cai, Jing
Wei, He
Zhang, Ying

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

MycoKeys

Volume

55

Pages

1-14

Subjects

Botryosphaericeae , pathogenicity , stem blight , taxonomy , Vaccinium

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2011-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.55.35015

 

Abstract

Blueberries (Vacciniumspp.) have been widely cultivated in China because of their nutritional benefits and economic value. Blueberry stem blight has become one of the most severe diseases influencing blueberry productivity and quality in China. In this study, eight fungal isolates were obtained from twenty stem blight lesions of blueberry collected in Nanping, Fujian province, China. Asexual stage was observed after inducing sporulation, the morphology of which agrees withMacrophominain the black, smooth, hard sclerotia and ellipsoid to obovoid, smooth hyaline conidia with apical sheath. Furthermore, DNA sequences of concatenated ITS,tef1-α,TUB, andACTloci indicated that these isolates belong to a novel fungal species. The distinguishing morphological characteristics, such as the wider conidia and larger conidiomata pycnidial, also support its new status. Thus a novel fungus,Macrophominavaccinii, was described in this study. Pathogenicity tests indicated thatM.vacciniicould cause stem blight of blueberry.