Journal of Plant Pathology (2021) 103, 1153-1167

Margaret Odeph, Agnes Kavoo, Cecilia Mweu and Wilton Mbinda (2021)
Identification and characterization of fungal species associated with the finger millet pathogen Pyricularia oryzae in Kenya
Journal of Plant Pathology 103 (4), 1153-1167
Abstract: Finger millet blast caused by Pyricularia oryzae is the most globally important disease of finger millet. The disease ravages cultivated finger millet, posing a threat to one of the world's most important, climate-resilient, and nutrient-rich cereal crops, which serves as an important source of food security. Both pathogenic and mutualistic fungi colonize plant tissues and compete for the same niche, subsequently influencing the disease pathogenesis. We analyzed the natural dynamics of the fungal community associated with finger millet blast. Fungal culture was performed on blast-diseased finger millet tissues collected from different agro-ecological regions in Kenya. Fifty-five isolates were obtained from finger, leaf and neck tissues with blast symptoms and characterized based on morphology and DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S rDNA regions. The identified fungal genera corresponded to Exserohilum, Sarocladium, Fusarium, Epicoccum, Cochliobolus, Curvularia, Bipolaris, Penicillium, Setosphaeria, Phoma, and Alternaria, in addition to two unnamed fungal species. Many fungal pathogens of other crops that are not inherently expected to be present on finger millet were encountered, including Penicillium citrinum. Multi-gene phylogenetic studies using concatenated sequences for the ITS and 28SrDNA regions were analyzed using IQ-tree on maximum likelihood basis and aligned using MAFFT to generate a tree with two distinct groups, which were further segregated into several subgroups. The outcome of this study provides useful information on the type of fungal community associated with finger millet blast, which may open avenues for understanding and protecting against finger millet blast disease in Kenya.
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Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
environment - cropping system/rotation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pyricularia oryzae	Eleusine (crop)	Kenya