VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Comparison of Host Ranges of Peronosclerospora philippinensis and P. sacchari. M. R. Bonde, Research plant pathologist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Plant Disease Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 1209, Frederick, MD 21701; G. L. Peterson, biological laboratory technician, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Plant Disease Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 1209, Frederick, MD 21701. Phytopathology 73:875-878. Accepted for publication 8 January 1983. Copyright 1983 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-73-875.

Seventy-two plant species representing 22 genera within eight tribes of the Gramineae were tested for susceptibility to systemic colonization after conidial inoculation with two isolates of Peronosclerospora philippinensis from the Philippines. All susceptible species were members of the tribe Andropogoneae (genera—Andropogon [one species], Bothriochloa [10 species], Eulalia [one species], Saccharum [one species], Schizachyrium [three species], and Sorghum [three species]) or the tribe Maydeae (genera—Tripsacum [one species] and Zea [three species]). Not all accessions susceptible to one isolate of the pathogen showed systemic symptoms when inoculated with the second isolate; in some instances, only a few plants of an accession developed systemic symptoms. The results were remarkably similar to our previous host range study with P. sacchari from Taiwan, and the information presented here indicates a very close phylogenetic relationship between P. philippinensis and P. sacchari.