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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #356471
Research Project: Management of Priority Legume, Oilseed, Vegetable, Forage Grass, Sugar, Ornamental, and Medicinal Plant Genetic Resources and Associated Information

Location: Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research

Title: Catalog of Penicillium spp. causing blue mold of bulbs, roots, and tubers

Author
item Dugan, Frank
item Strausbaugh, Carl

Submitted to: Mycotaxon
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/25/2019
Publication Date: 3/25/2019
Citation: Dugan, F.M., Strausbaugh, C.A. 2019. Catalog of Penicillium spp. causing blue mold of bulbs, roots, and tubers. Mycotaxon. 134(1):197-213. https://doi.org/10.5248/134.197.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5248/134.197

Interpretive Summary: Blue mold is a plant disease caused by fungi in the genus Penicillium. Literature on blue mold of edible and ornamental bulbs, roots and tubers varies widely in the degree to which Penicillium agents of the disease are accurately identified to species. It becomes necessary to ascertain on a species-by-species basis the methods by which the species name was applied. This catalog informs readers of the methods (morphological and cultural, and/or molecular genetic) and the literature (decades old to current) used in application of a given species name. This information enables users of plant disease literature to assess the degree of confidence they can place in a given species name as an agent of blue mold for a given bulb, root or tuber crop. Some names are robustly validated as disease agents, whereas other names have merely been propagated through the literature without a rigorous identification methodology or literature ever specified. In some instances, especially in developing economies, literature cited for identification is inappropriate.

Technical Abstract: Accuracy of assignment of specific epithets to Penicillium isolates documented as agents of blue mold of edible and ornamental bulb, root and tuber crops is highly variable. Methods have ranged from appropriate (recent morpho-cultural criteria, metabolite production, and/or DNA sequences), to plausible (morpho-cultural criteria in older monographs), to suspect (no method specified, or identification via inappropriate literature). A catalogue of names appropriately to plausibly assigned is presented, with authors and places of publication, indications on host range, and methods used for identification. Names are tabulated by category: segregates of P. corymbiferum, i.e., names in subgenus Penicillium, series Corymbifera associated with Liliaceae, sensu lato; names in subgenus Penicillium, not in series Corymbifera but associated with Liliaceae; names not in subgenus Penicillium but associated with Liliaceae; names associated with Beta vulgaris (beets and sugar beets), and names associated with mostly tropical or subtropical roots and tubers. Ambiguities or deficiencies in assignment of certain specific epithets are noted.