Morphological and molecular characterization of Neoscytalidium isolates that cause canker and dieback in Eucalyptus and Chinaberry trees in Iraq

Abstract

Eucalyptus belongs to the Myrtaceae family and has become the main source of different industrial applications such as the production of paper, furniture, energy, charcoal, and housing in the last century. The Eucalyptus genus includes about 700 species (Brooker 2000). Several Eucalyptus species are planted in Iraq; however, the most common species are E. microtheca Muell and E. calmaldulensis Dehn (Al-Iryani 1998). Botryosphaeriaceae, a fam-ily of sac fungi (Ascomycetes), is the typical representative of Botryosphaeriales order. The fungi of this family are usually connected with cankers and dieback in shrubs and woody plants (Bush 2018). According to Crous et al. (2006), the genus Neoscytalidium is a genus of plant pathogenic fungus causing cankers and dieback on woody plants all over the world. In Kurdistan region, several symptoms have been observed in the eucalyptus