First Report of Fusarium solani Canker and Wilt Symptoms on Red Oak (Quercus rubra) in Quebec, Canada

Abstract

Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc., causing wilt of leaves and twigs in the crown and annual cankers on trunks and branches of red oak (Quercus rubra L.) in the field, was found for the first time in Canada. F. solani is known to occur on red or black oaks of sect. LOBATAE: nuttall oak (Q. nuttallii E. J. Palmer), red oak, willow oak (Q. phellos L.), and water oak (Q. nigra L.) throughout the eastern half of the United States (1,2). In autumn 1997 and summer 1998, the disease was observed in 10-year-old trees at an experimental plantation near Cazaville (45°03′, 74°22′) located 5 km north of New York State in the St. Lawrence Valley of Québec, where 224 of 350 (64%) of the trees were symptomatic. The fungus was isolated on 2% potato dextrose agar from the necrotic bark around the active cankers (0.5 to 32 cm long) or it was obtained as erumpent sporodochia at green bark lenticels initiated from subcortical streaks in a moist chamber (relative humidity >90%). Previously, no fungus had been isolated from brown streaks found in vascular tissues with the use of two trapping techniques, either in a moist chamber or in water. From detached dead bark, other opportunistic fungi such as an Alternaria sp., Cytospora intermedia, a Phoma sp., and a Teichospora sp. were also isolated. Koch's postulates was completed for F. solani by dipping the roots of five 2-year-old Q. rubra seedlings that had their stem collar wounded by removal of a 5 mm2 area of bark, in a conidial suspension (4 × 103 conidia per ml) for 30 min. Five control seedlings were dipped in sterile, distilled water. Plants were potted in a soil mix and incubated in a growth chamber at 22°C. Within 3 weeks, inoculated plants exhibited wilted leaves and necrotic bark symptoms similar to those originally observed. The fungus was reisolated from the leaf petioles and bark tissues of symptomatic plants, but never from the controls. After 1 month all inoculated seedlings were dead. The pathogen could have a significant impact on commercial oak production in Québec. References: (1) W. A. Sinclair et al. 1993. Diseases of Trees and Shrubs. 3th ed. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. (2) E. R. Toole. Plant Dis. Rep. 50:160, 1966.

Thousand Cankers Disease Complex: A Forest Health Issue that Threatens Juglans Species across the U.S.

“…Other fungi found to be associated with this disease complex, such as Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc., (Order: Family) are known to cause cankers in eastern black walnut [61] as well as other tree species, including English walnut, red oak (Quercus rubra L.), and cottonwood (Populus deltoides W. Bartram ex Humphry Marshall) (Malpighiales: Salicaceae) [62][63][64]. The first report of F. solani on eastern black walnut was given by Tisserat et al [61].…”

Back to the roots: a reappraisal of Neocosmospora

“…(Menge 1988, Polizzi et al 1992, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris; Roy 1997), pea (Pisum sativum; Porter et al 2015), peanut (Arachis hypogaea; Rojo et al 2007), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas;McClure 1951) and wheat (Nirenberg 1981); root and fruit rot of cucurbits (Hawthorne et al 1992), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum); stem and fruit rot of sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum; Fletcher 1994, Jarvis et al 1994, and mango (Mangifera indica); fruit malformation (Liew et al 2016); stem canker of cottonwood (Populus spp. ; Toole 1963), avocado (Persea americana; Guarnaccia et al 2018), red oak (Quercus rubra; Vujanovic et al 1999), and walnut (Juglans spp. ; Tisserat 1987, Chen & Swart 2000; and sudden death syndrome (SDS) of soybean (Glycine max; Achenbach et al 1996, Aoki et al 2005.…”

Identification of New Fungal Pathogens of Coast Live Oak in California

“…Because of this culture variability, taxonomic progress on these genera will increasingly require a reliance on sequence data from multiple, consistently utilized loci. F. solani produced significant vascular lesions on inoculated stems but not roots of Q. suber (32); bowever, it caused deatb of seedlings 1 month after inoculation into roots of Q. rubra in Canada (55). Tbis is currently beyond the scope of tbe present study because it relies beavily on existing GenBank data, few isolates bave GenBank data for multiple loci, and tbe cboice of loci for pbylogenetic analysis is inconsistent in previous studies.…”