A survey of Fusarium species associated with wheat and grass stem bases in northern Turkey

Abstract

The Fusarium species associated with crown and root rot diseases of wheat have been studied intensively in many parts of the world. However, there are no detailed reports on the relative importance and distribution of Fusarium species associated with crown and root rot of wheat in Turkey. Therefore, a survey of Fusarium species associated with randomly collected wheat stem bases from arbitrarily selected sites was conducted in three key agroecological wheat production regions in northern Turkey. The Fusarium species associated with stem bases of six grass species were also assessed. Fifteen Fusarium species were isolated from wheat stem bases. Three of these species, and two additional species were isolated from the grasses. The species isolated included the important crown and foot rot pathogens F. culmorum and F. pseudograminearum, as well as a number of secondary colonizers and saprobic species. Of the pathogenic species isolated, F. culmorum was most prevalent, being isolated from 28% of sites surveyed at an isolation frequency range from individual sites of 2% to 16%, whereas F.pseudograminearum was isolated from 8% of sites at an isolation frequency range of 2% to 4%. It seems that, at present, Fusarium species do not pose a major threat to wheat production in northern Turkey. The implications of these findings are discussed.