VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Decay and Colonization of Gladiolus Corms by the Pine Pitch Canker Fungus. Jane Barrows -Broaddus, Plant pathologist, USDA Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Carlton Street, Athens, GA 30602; L. D. Dwinell, principal plant pathologist, USDA Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Carlton Street, Athens, GA 30602. Phytopathology 70:847-850. Accepted for publication 25 January 1980. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1980. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-70-847.

Gladiolus sp. ‘White Friendship’ corms were inoculated in the laboratory with strains of Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans (FMS), the causal agent of pitch canker of pines. Isolates were from six species of pines, from pine plantation soil, and from gladiolus corms. The inoculations resulted in slight-to-moderate decay of the corms, and all isolates were recovered from corm tissue beyond the zone of visible decay. In another experiment, corms were inoculated with two strains of FMS from pitch cankers, two other species of Fusarium, and several other genera of plant pathogenic fungi. Only the Fusarium isolates caused decay and could be recovered from the corms. In a greenhouse experiment, corms were grown in soil infested with two strains of F. oxysporum f. sp. gladioli and nine strains of FMS. Significant decay was caused by both strains of F. oxysporum f. sp. gladioli and by two of the nine strains of FMS. Almost all strains were recovered from the corms. The decay of corms and the colonization of asymptomatic tissue by FMS indicate its potential as a pathogen in the storage and production of gladiolus corms.