Prevalence and incidence of the root-inhabiting fungi, Fusarium, Cylindrocarpon and Pythium, on container-grown Douglas-fir and spruce seedlings in British Columbia

Abstract

Application.Species of Fusarium, Cylindrocarpon or Pythium were readily isolated from the roots and growth medium of container-grown Douglas-fir and spruce seedlings. Differences in their occurrence varied with nursery, but not consistently with conifer species, indicating that cultural practices which alter conditions such as growth medium moisture and temperature can influence their prevalence.Abstract. Surveys were made at the end of the 1990 and 1991 growing seasons for rootinhabiting fungi in the genera Fusarium, Cylindrocarpon and Pythium from the roots of one year-old container-grown Douglas-fir and spruce seedlings grown under greenhouse conditions. In the 1990 survey of four nurseries, it was found that 61-97% of both Douglas-fir and spruce roots were colonized with Fusarium, Cylindrocarpon or Pythium. There were significantly @ 5 0.05) more Douglas-fir roots than spruce roots colonized by Fusarium at all nurseries, however, there were significantly (p 5 0.05) more spruce roots than Douglas-fir roots colonized by Cylindrocarpon and Pythium. Root colonization of Douglas-fir and spruce by the three fungal genera during 1991 varied from 042% at three nurseries, however, only at a south coastal nursery was there significantly (p 5 0.05) more spruce than Douglas-fir roots colonized by Cylindrocarpon. Significantly more seedlings were infected in 1990 than in 1991. In 1991, there were few significant differences between Douglas-fir and spruce, in the percentage of seedlings with colonized roots and in the percentage of growth medium colonized by the fungi. However, there were significant differences between nurseries.

Biochar Can Be a Suitable Replacement for Sphagnum Peat in Nursery Production of Pinus ponderosa Seedlings

“…The authors note that soil-borne pathogens were commonly enhanced in 83% of the studies they reviewed, but foliar pathogens were enhanced in only 33% of the studies. For forest nurseries in western North America, soil-borne pathogens (i.e., Cylindrocarpon, Fusarium, and Pythium) are ubiquitous (e.g., [66]), but the expression of disease is usually only associated with prolonged, excessive moisture in the growing media (e.g., [66][67][68][69]) often due to excessive irrigation. In addition, the basal portion of all containers, post irrigation, experience saturated conditions for some duration, which is a function of plant phenology, container height, and medium porosity [60].…”

Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Assemblages of Nursery-Grown Scots Pine are Influenced by Age of the Seedlings

“…Before the molecular era, our knowledge about ECM fungal communities in forest nurseries was mainly based on morphotyping (morphological and anatomical identification) of mycorrhizal root tips [32][33][34], fungal isolation [35,36], or a combination of both of these methods [37,38]. Significant advances have been made since it was demonstrated that direct sequencing of fungal DNA from root tips could be a powerful and sensitive tool for the identification of potentially all root-inhabiting fungi [39,40].…”

Distribution and genetic diversity of the root‐rot pathogen Neonectria macrodidyma in a forest nursery

“…1989). Although there is a substantial amount of information on incidence of root pathogens in forest nurseries (Galaaen and Venn 1979; Kope et al. 1996; Lilja et al.…”