Apples are the main horticultural crops gr
own in West Azarbaijan province of Iran. In recent surveys of apple orchards in Urmia and Miyandoab, West Azarbaijan Province, symptoms including branch and twig bark cracks, cankers, dieback and tree decline were commonly seen. Isolation of the fungi from cracked and cankered branches yielded fungal isolates with typical characteristics of the genera
Paecilomyces and
Paramyrothecium. Based on combination of morphological characteristics and sequence data obtained from ITS-rDNA and
β-tubulin gene sequences for
Paecilomyces isolates and ITS-rDNA region for
Paramyrothecium isolates, they were identified as
Paecilomyces formosus and
Paramyrothecium foliicola. Results of the pathogenicity tests on detached shoots of ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Red Delicious’ cultivars showed that isolates of
P. formosus were pathogenic only on ‘Red Delicious’ cultivar, but
Pa. foliicola isolates were pathogenic on both cultivars and showed symptoms of infection. Re-isolation of the fungi from inoculated shoots confirmed Koch’s postulates. To the best of our knowledge, the involvement of
P. formosus and
Pa. foliicola in the development of canker disease of apple trees is reported for the first time. Also,
Pa. foliicola is a new record to Iran mycobiota
.
Article Type:
Original Research |
Subject:
Mycology and Fungal Plant Diseases Received: 2020/01/4 | Accepted: 2020/07/21 | Published: 2020/08/19