Authors: Jürgen Köhl Belia Groenenboomde Haas Helen Goossenvan de Geijn Adrianus Speksnijder Pieter Kastelein Sybren de Hoog Bert Gerrits van den Ende
Publish Date: 2008/11/12
Volume: 124, Issue: 1, Pages: 151-
Abstract
Stemphylium vesicarium teleomorph Pleospora herbarum is the causal agent of brown spot disease in pear The species is also able to cause disease in asparagus onion and other crops Saprophytic growth of the fungus on plant debris is common The objective of this study was to investigate whether isolates of S vesicarium from different hosts can be pathogenic to pear More than hundred isolates of Stemphylium spp were obtained from infected pear fruits dead pear leaves dead grass leaves present in pear orchard lawns as well as from necrotic leaf parts of asparagus and onion Only isolates originating from pear orchards including isolates from dead grass leaves were pathogenic on pear leaves or fruits in bioassays Nonpathogenic isolates were also present in pear orchards Stemphylium vesicarium from asparagus or onion with one exception were not pathogenic to pear Analysis of the genetic variation between isolates using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism AFLP showed significant concordance with host plants Isolates from asparagus or onion belonged to clusters separate from the cluster with isolates from pear or grass leaves collected in pear orchards Multilocus sequencing of a subset of isolates showed that such isolates were similar to S vesicariumWe acknowledge the support by PF de Jong Applied Plant Research J van Mourik Centrale adviesdienst voor de Fruitteelt BV CAF and PAWM Aalbers Fruit Consultancy DLV for providing samples of pears M Plentinger Applied Plant Research and JMB Meulendijk DLV Plant Akkerbouw for providing samples of asparagus and P Creemers Gorsem Belgium for providing several cultures of Stemphylium spp
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