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First Report of Stemphylium vesicarium as Causal Agent of Wilting and Root Rotting of Radish Sprouts in Italy

A consistent contamination from a Stemphylium sp. was detected on radish (Raphanus sativus) seeds by a seed blotter test. Twenty-five percent of seed lots were contaminated. Stemphylium vesicarium (teleomorph Pleospora allii) was identified on the basis of morphological characters of conidia and conidiophores (4). Conidia were golden brown to dark drown, oblong to oval with one to four transverse and one to three longitudinal septa, constricted at one to three of the major transverse septa. Conidia dimensions ranged from 12 to 22 × 30 to 40 μm. Conidiophores were straight or occasionally one-branched with a swollen apex and one to four septate. Pseudothecia with asci and ascopores were observed on radish seeds. Asci were cylindrical to clavate with eight ascospores with up to six transverse septa and numerous longitudinal septa. Species identification was also confirmed after comparing the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA and gpd (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) (3) of four isolates with those of Stemphylium species already present in the NCBI database. Accessions Nos. AM 746020 to AM746023 and AM883174 to AM883177 were deposited for ITS and gpd, respectively. Artificial inoculations were carried out on radish seeds previously disinfected with 1% sodium hypochlorite for 10 min and then plated on S. vesicarium sporulating colonies grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA). The four sequenced isolates were tested for pathogenicity. Disinfected seeds were plated onto PDA only and used as a control. After 48 h of incubation, seeds were sown in sterilized soil in plastic plates. The emerging and the eventually dead plants were counted. Stem necrosis and root rotting developed on sprouts within the first week after sowing. On the surviving infected plantlets, wilting and death occurred on more than 70% of the plants within 4 weeks after sowing. Control plantlets obtained from disinfected seeds remained healthy. The fungus reisolated from wilted and dead plants was morphologically identical to the original isolates, thus confirming S. vesicarium as the causal agent. In Italy, this pathogen is common on asparagus (1), but it has also been reported on Allium spp., tomato, and pear. On European pear it is the causal agent of brown spot (2), a destructive disease in the Mediterranean area but also in the Netherlands and other continental European countries. On the basis of these results, seed contamination with S. vesicarium can represent a threat for the production of radish for sprout consumption. To our knowledge, this is the first report of S. vesicarium on radish plantlets in Italy.

References: (1) F. Del Zan et al. L'informatore Agrario 11:95, 1989. (2) I. Llorente and E. Montesinos. Plant Dis. 90:1368, 2006. (3) B. M. Pryor and D. M. Bigelow. Mycologia 95:1141, 2003. (4) E. G. Simmons. Sydowia 38:284, 1985.