Rhizoctonia solani is a phytopathogenic fungus affecting a wide range of plants hosts including the sunflower causing various diseases such as damping-off. Current management approaches of this pathogen are inadequate. Aim of this study was to assess the potential of eco-friendly control methods, the indigenous biocontrol fungus Trichoderma harzianum and ZnO nanoparticles for controlling of the sunflower damping-off pathogen, R. solani. The biocontrol agent T. harzianum showed a high antagonism effect on R. solani growth. Additionally, growth of R. solani was significantly (p = 0.01) reduced gradually by presence of various concentrations of the ZnO NPs indicating to concentration-dependent toxicity effect. However, a similar impact was also observed on growth of T. harzianum. On the other hand, the percentage of seed germination and stem length of sunflower (Coban cv.) did not affect significantly by ZnO NPs. Conversely, the root lengths were significantly decreased. In the horticultural canopy trial, the best reduction to the sunflower damping-off incidence percentage was achieved by treatment of sunflower seedlings growing in compost inoculated with T. harzianum and R. solani 68.75% comparing to 100% in the control. In contrast, a significant reduction in severity percentage of damping-off symptoms was accomplished in most of the treatments. The best suppression was achieved in treatments of spraying the seedlings with ZnO NPs (15 mg/ml) in two days prior of planting that was 50% in compression with 97.50% in control. These findings can justify the application of the local biocontrol agent T. harzianum alone or in integration with ZnO NPs to be included with current management approaches of sunflower damping-off, which could lead to a diminution in the utilizing of fungicides.
Summary Lucky bamboo (Dracaena braunii) is a popular ornamental plant in Iraq. Individuals of this plant showing stem and root rot symptoms were observed during a survey conducted from November 2015 to February 2016 in several nurseries in Kerbala province, Iraq. Based on morphological characteristics and sequence analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA), the pathogen was identified as Fusarium proliferatum. This is the first report of stem and root rot caused by F. proliferatum on lucky bamboo (D. braunii) in Iraq.
This study aimed to identify the main causal agent of cowpea seed rot and preemergence damping-off in Kerbala province and evaluate some indigenous biocontrol factors in comparison with biological and chemical commercial products in control of the pathogen. The results showed that the main cause of this disease was Rhizoctonia solani where all isolates of this fungus showed a notable pathogenicity. Moreover, all biological agents examined were found to be effective against the pathogen. The maximum inhibition percentages (100 and 89%) were achieved by the commercial products (Beltanol and EM1) while the local biocontrol agents Bacillus cerus and B. subtilis reached 82.66% and 82.22% respectively. However, the third indigenous biocontrol agent Trichoderma harzianum showed inhibition percentage more than 75% and less than 100%. Additionally, all biological control agents demonstrated a high efficiency in protection of cowpea seeds from R. solani infection. This was through decreasing percentage of seeds rot and pre-emergence damping-off in whole treatments compared with control (the pathogen only). The lowest percentage was reached by B. subtilis and Beltanol (0%) followed by B. cerus (5.6%) then T.harzianum (6.7%) and Em1 (21.7%) respectively. However, in control (the pathogen only) was 50%.
Nursery-grown rosy periwinkles (Catharanthus roseus) in Kerbala province, Iraq, showed severe symptoms of leaf blight. The causal agent associated with the diseased plants was identified as the fungus Alternaria alternata. This identification was based on the pathogen's morphological, molecular and pathogenic characteristics. To the best of the author's knowledge, leaf blight of rosy periwinkle caused by A. alternata is the first record in Iraq. Keywords Alternaria alternata. Leaf blight. Catharanthus roseus. rDNA-ITS. Iraq Catharanthus roseus, known as rosy periwinkle or Madagascar periwinkle, is an annual or perennial evergreen herbal plant that is native from Madagascar (Stearn 1975). Nowadays, it is cultivated globally, including in Iraq, for its therapeutic and ornamental attractive features. It has an ornamental aesthetic appearance related to its green variegation and prolific flowers in splendid colors (Nejat et al. 2015). The plant is also a source of pharmaceutical compounds such as terpenoid indole alkaloids including vincristine and vinblastine that have valuable antitumor properties (Aslam et al. 2010). Several phytopathogens have been reported to cause a variety of diseases on periwinkle plants worldwide. The majority of the fungal diseases recorded were root rot and damping-off incited by numerous fungi such as Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, Thielaviopsis sp., Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Sclerotium rolfsii and Pythium aphanidermatum and foliar blight caused by Phytophthora parasitica, P. tropicalis, Colletotrichum dematium and Botrytis cinerea (Nejat et al. 2015; Ou-Yang and Wu 1998). However, there are no published studies relating to pathogens infecting periwinkle plants in Iraq. During the growing season 2015/ 2016, severe symptoms of foliar blight were observed on rosy periwinkle in one of the main ornamental nurseries in Kerbala province, Iraq. The
During a survey in season 018, leaf spot symptoms were commonly observed on apricot (Prunus armeniaca) trees in the orchards of Al-Hussainiya district in Karbala Province of Iraq. The symptomatic leaves were gathered, the associated fungus was isolated and characterized relied on its morphological features and ITS-rDNA sequencing. The causative factor was found to be the fungus Alternaria alternata that caused distinguishable leaf spot symptoms on the inoculated leaves of apricot. Based on a review of previous references relatedof this disease in Iraq, this is the first report of the brown leaf spot disease caused by A. alternata in Karbala province of Iraq.
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