Disease Note.

First Report of Fusarium Wilt of Basil in Maryland. E. M. Dutky, Department of Botany, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742. Y. Takikawa, Shi-zuoka University, Shizuoka 422 Japan. Plant Dis. 78:1217. Accepted for publication 21 September 1994. Copyright 1994 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-78-1217B.

Maryland greenhouse herb producers reported severe losses of Italian basil Ocimum basilicum L. 'Genovese' and 'Fluffy Ruffles' in 1993 and 1994. Symptoms began as cessation of growth and progressed to wilting, defoliation, and the development of elongate purple-brown external stem cankers. Fusarium oxysporum Schlechtend.:Fr. was consistently isolated from stem vascular tissues of diseased plants. Two isolates were tested for pathogenicity by dipping the roots of 22-day-old basil seedlings in aqueous suspensions of 1 × 106 conidia per milliliter. Control plants were dipped in sterile distilled water. Within 2 wk, all inoculated plants were wilted, stunted, pale green to yellow in color and had developed external stem discoloration. F. oxysporum was recovered only from inoculated plants. This report of Fusarium wilt of basil in Maryland follows the first report of this disease in 1990 in Massachusetts (1) and a report of its occurrence in California in 1992 (2).