New Method for Assessing Contamination of Slash and Loblolly Pine Seeds by Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans. R. L. Anderson, Supervisory Plant Pathologist, USDA Forest Service, 200 Weaver Blvd., Asheville, NC 28804. Plant Dis. 70:452-453. Accepted for publication 23 October 1985. 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, 1986. DOI: 10.1094/PD-70-452.

Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans (F. m. subglutinans), which causes pitch canker disease of pines in the southern United States, can be isolated from a pine seed by placing the seed on blue filter paper in a plastic tray, crushing it, and spraying it and the blotter paper with a liquid medium semiselective for Fusarium spp. The tray is covered and incubated at room temperature (about 20 C) for 14 days or until the colonies are 2 cm in diameter. Each colony is examined microscopically for the polyphialides diagnostic for F. m. subglutinans. This method permits rapid screening of representative samples of pine seed lots for F. m. subglutinans contamination and gives the same result as using a selective agar medium.