Host range and phytotoxicity of Stemphylium solani, causing leaf blight of garlic (Allium sativum) in China

Abstract

Since 2004, a new leaf blight disease on garlic of high severity has been observed in Dangyang County, Hubei province, China. Initial symptoms consisted of multiple, small, irregular to oval, white leaf spots, which enlarge to produce sunken purple lesions, sometimes surrounded by a bright yellow margin. As the disease progressed, lesions expanded and merged, resulting in withering of leaf tips. After isolation and pathogenicity testing, the causal agent of leaf blight of garlic was identified as Stemphylium solani from cultural and morphological characteristics, and subsequent analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA. When fungal plugs of two S. solani isolates were inoculated onto 11 garlic cultivars and 20 other crop species, leaf spots appeared on all inoculated plants, but two garlic cultivars (Qingganruanye and Ruanruanye) and three crop species (Capsicum annuum, Brassica napus and Amaranthus mangostanus) showed the smallest leaf spots. In cross-inoculation experiments, no indications of host specificity were observed, but S. solani isolated from garlic was generally the most virulent on five plant species, while the isolate from leek (Allium odorum) was generally the least virulent. Toxicity testing of the crude culture filtrates indicated that garlic isolates produced toxin(s) that were not heat-labile and induced different levels of phytotoxicity toward various garlic cultivars and crops.