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Background Wheat is the most consumed cereal crops in the world infected by several pathogens and pests causing significant losses. The most threatening pathogens are fungi which cause serious diseases on roots, leaves and heads as one of the most threatening pathogens in specific wheat-growing countries. This study aimed to identify and evaluate the prevalence of damping-off fungal pathogens in different wheat fields at Basra and Maysan provinces. Results Disease incidence determination and fungal isolation were carried out from two sites at Basra province (Al-Qurna and Al-Madinah) and three sites at Maysan province (Al-Amarah, Kumit, Ali Al Sharqi and Ali Al Gharbi). Al-Qurna fields had the highest disease incidence (32%), while Ali-Alsharqi fields had the lowest one (11%). Fourteen fungal genera were identified. Rhizoctonia solani had the highest appearance (21.6) and frequency (20.20%) percentages followed by Fusarium solani (16.11,14.01) percentages and Macrophomina phaseolina (12.2,11.1) percentages. Seed treatment with R. solani (Rs1 isolate) showed significant decrease in germination (56.6%) compared to F. solani and M. phaseolina treatments. Seed treatment with R. solani (Rs1 isolate) showed significant decrease in germination (56.6%) compared to F. solani and M. phaseolina treatments. Conclusions These results revealed the prevalence of wheat damping-off disease in all examined fields at both Basra and Maysan province; the highest disease incidence was seen in Basra wheat fields (Al-Qurna fields); the identification of fungal pathogens showed that the most isolated fungus was R. solani followed by F. solani and M. phaseolina. Laboratory experiments showed the pathogenicity of isolated fungi which varied according to the isolate type.

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) is an important and valuable fruit because of its unique flavor and economic, nutritional and health benefits. It is one of the most consumed berries worldwide. Grey mould of strawberry fruits, caused by the necrotrophic ascomycete Botrytis cinerea Pers.: Fr., is one of the most important diseases. This airborne pathogen has the ability to kill strawberry cells through the production of reactive oxygen species and toxins causing massive production losses at all development stages and even post-harvest. The intensive production of strawberries has created a favorable environment for this disease. Strawberry grey mould management is typically very input-intensive, in particular with respect to chemical fungicides. As a result, the integrated pest management is required to control strawberry grey mould. A thorough understanding of B. cinerea epidemiology and infection processes is needed to guide future efforts in the development of innovative integrated management practices. This review summarizes the current knowledge of taxonomy and morphology, signs and symptoms, disease development, infection process, and control of B. cinerea using integrated disease management.

Due to the various negative impacts of chemical fungicides, the reduction of its applications in agricultural production process is widely recommended. Thus, the need and application of bio-agents in disease control has increased tremendously. The current study aimed at investigating the role of both bio-agents Glomus mosseae (mycorrhizal fungi) and Trichoderma harzianum in protection of Cucumis sativus (cucumber plants) against the fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata which is an opportunistic pathogen and the causal agent of cucumber wilt disease. Results obtained from this work revealed the positive influence of using bio-agents treatments in the reduction of pathogenic effects of A. alternata. The results also showed that G. mosseae and T. harzianum combination had a positive synergistic influence in reducing the detrimental effects of A. alternata ny improving the biomass yield (e.g. fresh and dry weight of root); as well as, on disease severity on C. sativus. Bio-agents (G. mosseae and T. harzianum) increased resistance in C. sativus by raising the production of enzymes catalase and peroxidase. Conclusively, this research revealed that using a multifarious combination of bio-agents significantly (P =.05) increased the efficiency of biological control of A. alternata than using each of them exclusively. Thus, it is recommended that to get an effective result in the control of the pathogen A. alternata in crops as highlighted by the results of this work; a combination of two bio-agents should be used.

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Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) production has gone through increasing difficulties due to relatively low yields in the last few years in Iraq. Alternaria solani, the causal agent of eggplant early blight; attacks hybrid and local varieties either in open field or in the greenhouse, causing a serious damage that led to decrease in crop yield. The strategies employed to manage this disease by Iraqi farmers were the synthetic fungicides application. In this study, several assays were conducted such as poisoned food technique (in vitro assay) and greenhouse experiment (in vivo assay); to evaluate the inhibitory efficacy of 3 three synthetic fungicides including; Topas® 100 (penconazole), Tilt 250 (propiconazole) and Leimay® (amisulbrom) on A. solani mycelial growth and disease intensity. In laboratory assays, Topas® 100 and Tilt 250 exhibited high inhibitory activities against A. solani as an airborne pathogen; recording mycelial inhibition rate above 94 % at a concentration of 1000 mg\ l. Furthermore, these two fungicides when applied preventively in greenhouse assays reduced significantly the disease severity index (DSI) by 18.83 % and 26.16 %, respectively. Current results revealed that Topas® 100 and Tilt 250 caused the highest antifungal potential manifested through reduction rate of fresh weight (9.62 and 8.58 g, respectively), and dry weight (4.61 and 4.60 g, respectively). Moreover, both fungicides recorded the highest peroxidase activities of 4.128 units/g/ml/min. and 3.038 units/g/ml/min., respectively. Current findings can be used to assist the eggplant growers to improve the control of early blight disease, and increase the marketable yields of this crop.

Recently, a wide range of symptoms including light yellow lesions gradually turning into brown stripes were noticed on date palm leaves in Iraq. In this context, the aim of this study were to isolate the phytopathogens associated with these symptoms, evaluate their pathogenicity and assess the efficacy of two fungicides (Score and Pentanol) under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Two fungal species (Alternaria sp. and Fusarium sp.) were isolated from the symptomatic leaves of date palm. The results of pathogenicity tested proved the ability of Alternaria sp. inoculated separately or in combination with Fusarium sp. to infect the leaves of date palm trees with disease severity index (DSI) values of 67.33% and 65.99%, respectively. The effect of Score (88.76%) and Pentanol (82.91%) against Alternaria sp. was examined by poisoned food technique, which leads a significant increase in mycelial growth inhibition (for 300% of commercial recommended dose of fungicide). Test results indicate that prophylactic spraying of date palm leaves with Score or Pentanol effectively controlled Alternaria sp. with DSI values of 22.65% and 17.87%, respectively. To control Alternaria sp. in field within integrated pest management strategies, chemical control using Score or Pentanol should be taken in consideration.

This study was conducted to estimate the level of some heavy metals, mainly Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and cobalt (Co) in the soil and wheat leaves of some wheat fields in Basra and Maysan province; the sampling areas were Al-Qurna, Al-Madinah, Al-Amara, Kumit, Ali Al-Sharqi, and Ali Al-Gharbi. It was performed the analysis using the Flame Atomic Spectrophotometer. The results indicated an increase in the concentrations of above mentioned these heavy metals in all examined areas; the levels in agricultural soils were found to be exceeding the internationally permissible limits according to EU-2000 standards, the highest levels of pollution were observed at Al- Qurna site with significant differences than other sites for both available and total HMs concentrations in soils. Indicating that the arrangement of the metals according to their available concentrations in the analyzed soil was as follows: lead (21.32 )˃ cobalt (14.63) ˃ chromium (11.06) ˃ cadmium (1.15) as mg/Kg of soil. Additionally, results showed that the highest lead content in the wheat leaves was examined in the Qurna fields (0.175 mg/kg), followed by Amara with a concentration of 0.136 mg/kg. The lowest concentration of lead was observed in wheat leaves in the Kumit fields (0.007 mg/kg). In terms of Cd concentration in wheat leaves, the highest level was observed in Al-Qurna, with a significant difference from other fields, reaching 0.009 mg/kg. The lowest concentration of this HM was recorded in Ali Al-Gharbi, which reached 0.002 mg/kg. The results of the correlation between the available concentration of heavy metals elements and soil characteristics revealed a significant correlation between the soil pH and lead, cadmium, and chromium available concentrations, whereas no correlation with cobalt and a significant correlation between soil EC and lead was observed and a highly significant negative correlation with the cobalt. Results proved the high levels of pollution in all examined areas in Basra and Maysan provinces.