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First Report of Gray Leaf Spot on St. Augustinegrass in Italy

St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) is used for lawns in southern Italy because it is much more resistant to biotic and abiotic adversities than other turfgrass species. Because few seeds are viable, this species is established by vegetative propagation. A new disease was noticed during the spring of 2002 and 2003 on cuttings of St. Augustinegrass growing in three greenhouses in eastern Sicily. The disease affected leaves and culms and caused a progressive drying of the plants. The infection was first seen on leaves as gray, necrotic spots that enlarged in high-humidity conditions to form oval, and later, spindle-shaped lesions. In association with the lesions, it was possible to observe fungal spore development and sunken areas with blue-gray centers and slightly irregular, brown margins with yellow halos. Spots were concentrated without specific arrangement along longitudinal veins and the midrib and at the base, tip, and margins of the leaf blade. Symptoms on the culms consisted of brown-to-black blotches that sometimes extended throughout the internodes. From these infected tissues, 20 explants taken from leaves and culms were cut, washed with sterile water, and placed on 1.5% water agar (WA). Later, conidia and conidiophores were obtained from colonies with a sterile glass needle and placed on 4% WA. From these plates, two monoconidial isolates were obtained and transferred to rice meal medium (1). The colonies were identified as Pyricularia grisea Cooke (Sacc.), anamorphic state of Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Yeagashi & Udagawa, the cause of rice blast disease and gray leaf spot disease of turfgrasses. The conidia were pyriform to obclavate, narrowed toward the tip, rounded at the base, 2-septate, 21 to 31 μm × 6 to 10 μm (average 25.7 ×8.2 μm). Pathogenicity tests were performed by inoculating leaves and culms of six St. Augustinegrass plants with a conidial suspension of the fungus (1.5 ×10⁵ conidia per ml). The same number of noninoculated plants was used as controls. All plants were incubated in a moist chamber with high humidity at 25°C. After 6 days, all inoculated plants showed typical symptoms of the disease. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by isolating P. grisea from inoculated plants. Gray leaf spot caused by P. grisea has been a chronic problem on St. Augustinegrass since it was first reported in 1957 (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. grisea on St. Augustinegrass in Italy. While it does not appear to be an important disease in the field at this time in Sicily, it could cause losses in greenhouses where vegetative material is propagated for field planting. A preliminary molecular analysis has shown a clear distinction between the tested strain and other strains isolated from rice seeds and plants in northern Italy.

References: (1) E. Roumen et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 103:363, 1997. (2) L. P. Tredway et al. Plant Dis. 87:435, 2003.