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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #399367
Research Project: Advancing Knowledge of the Biology and Etiology of Bacterial Plant Pathogens Towards Management Strategies

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: First report of fusarium redolens causing root rot of lycium barbarum L. cv. ‘Ningqi-7’ in China

Author
item XU, C.Y. - Ningxia University
item GAO, H.H. - Ningxia University
item HAN, Q - Ningxia University
item JIA, C.B. - Ningxia University
item Swingle, Bryan
item GAO, M - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SU, J.Y. - Ningxia University

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/28/2024
Publication Date: 3/5/2024
Citation: Xu, C., Gao, H., Han, Q., Jia, C., Swingle, B.M., Gao, M., Su, J. 2024. First report of fusarium redolens causing root rot of lycium barbarum L. cv. ‘Ningqi-7’ in China. Plant Disease. 172:e13278. https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.13278.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.13278

Interpretive Summary: In the summer of 2019 and 2020 a 30 hectare Lycium barbarum L. (goji berry) plantation in Western China was severely damaged by an outbreak of a mysterious root rot disease. The leaves and fruits of affected plants were dry and shriveled and the roots were rotten with dark staining of the internal vascular tissue. Samples of root tissue from three trees was collected for diagnostic analysis. We isolated a pathogenic fungus (Fusarium) from the roots and confirmed that this fungus was responsible for the disease symptoms observed at the plantation. The species of the pathogenic fungus was determined to be Fusarium redolens by DNA sequence analysis. This species of fungus has not been reported previously as a pathogen of goji berry plants. It is important that we are aware of this emerging pathogen and the potential risks to other related plants, such as potato, tomato, eggplant, peppers, and tobacco.

Technical Abstract: In the summer of 2019 and 2020, Chinese goji berry (Lycium barbarum L.) plants with root rot symptoms were collected from a plantation of about three hundred thousand square meters with 14–38% mean disease incidence in Zhongning County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in China. The leaves of the affected plants were small and yellow, and gradually scorched with the disease progression. The fruits of diseased plants were dry and thin. The root density and the typical fibrous root structure was reduced or completely absent in many plants. In roots with deep lesions, the xylem was exposed and dark brown staining was visible in the vascular bundles. To identify the causal agent, the roots of three symptomatic trees were sampled and the endophytic fungi were cultured. The fungal colonies that grew were white initially, and then turned faint yellow. Microscopically, the fungal hyphae were septate and branching and sporangiospores were present. The ITS and TEF genes from these isolates were amplified using PCR and sequenced. Based on BLASTn searches of the Nucleotide collection (nr/nt) database, the ITS genes of these isolates showed high identity with Fusarium spp. Phylogenetic trees constructed using the neighbor-joining method based on the ITS and TEF sequences, which along with the morphological characteristics and nucleotide homology identified the fungi as F. redolens. The pathogenicity of the F. redolens isolates was tested and Koch’s postulates were fulfilled using a wound inoculation method. The inoculated plants developed symptoms that were similar to the symptoms observed at the plantation during sampling. F. redolens was re-isolated from the rotted roots of the inoculated plants and confirmed as such based on colony, sporangia morphology and ITS sequence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. redolens causing root rot of Chinese goji berry (L. barbarum L. cv. ‘Ningqi-7’) in China.