Location: Sugarbeet and Bean Research
Title: Fusarium stalk blight and rot in sugar beet Authors
Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 13, 2013
Publication Date: August 10, 2013
Citation: Hanson, L.E., Goodwill, T.R., McGrath, J.M. 2013. Fusarium stalk blight and rot in sugar beet. Phytopathology. 103:S2.56. Technical Abstract: Fusarium stalk blight of sugar beet can cause reductions or complete loss of seed production. The causal agent is Fusarium oxysporum. In addition, Fusarium solani has been demonstrated to cause a rot of sugar beet seed stalk, and other species have been reported associated with sugar beet fruit, but their effect on seed production is not known. We sampled diseased seed stalks and examined isolates for their pathogenicity and virulence on sugar beet seed stalks in greenhouse tests. Isolates of F. oxysporum representing three different genetic groups associated with Fusarium yellows were examined for their effect on seed stalks. Seed stalk tissue of sugar beet germplasm that had been found to vary in response to Fusarium yellows, in response to stalk blight in field screening, or recombinant inbred lines (RILs) were inoculated. Fusarium oxysporum was the most commonly isolated species from seed stalks, but three other species also were isolated from stalk lesions, and all caused damage to seed stalks. Isolates from two of the three genetic groups of F. oxysporum f. sp. betae isolates caused similar symptoms on seed stalks. Isolates of other species caused more cortical rot. Response to different Fusarium species varied among the sugar beet germplasm. There was evidence of low to high susceptibility to all species tested among the beet germplasm screened, but low susceptibility to one species did not always correlate with low susceptibility to other species.