Morphological and PCR-based characterisation of Podosphaera aphanis (Wallr.) U. Braun & S. Takamatsu causing powdery mildew disease in strawberry in Java

Abstract

The powdery mildew (CHD13) which infected strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch) in Java was identified using morphological and Internal Transcribed Spacer rDNA region. It revealed that the identity of fungal pathogen was similar to Podosphaera aphanis. The phylogenetic analysis figured that the CHD13 isolate infecting strawberry in Java was clustered with P. aphanis from China, the United Kingdom, and Argentina. The CHD13 isolate was separated from P. macularis and P. xanthii. The pathogenicity test of the CHD13 isolate was done by using ten strawberry cultivars from three different species (F ×ananassa, F. vesca, and F. moschata). Each cultivar showed different disease reactions. This research concluded that the F. moschata cultivar and two cultivars of F. ×ananassa were resistant, while six cultivars of F. ×ananassa were susceptible and F. vesca were highly susceptible to powdery mildew disease.