Survival of Fusarium moniliforme Hyphae and Conidia in Grain Sorghum Stalks. S. K. Manzo, Former Graduate Student, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506. L. E. Claflin, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506.. Plant Dis. 68:866-867. Accepted for publication 2 April 1984. Copyright 1984 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-68-866.

Fusarium moniliforme conidia and vegetative hyphae from colonized sterile grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) stalk sections stored in canning jars above and below the ground in Kansas overwintered (1979 and 1980) without loss of viability or pathogenicity. No specialized structures such as thick hyphae, chlamydospores, or sclerotia were observed in 1979 although chlamydospore-like cells were observed on some hyphae in 1980. No loss in viability of F. moniliforme conidia or hyphae was detected when stored at –16 C for 6 mo. This indicates that low winter temperatures per se have no lethal effects on F. moniliforme and that specialized structures may not be essential for overwintering of F. moniliforme.

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