Occurrence of fungi, with emphasis on Diplodia pinea, in pine seeds from forest nurseries of Turkey

Abstract

Diplodia sapinea severely damages conifers and significantly reduces seed production and germination when cones are infected with the pathogen. In this study we aimed to determine the presence of D. sapinea and other fungi on seed of pines. A selective medium was used to isolate D. sapinea from Pinus brutia, Pinus nigra and Pinus pinea seeds obtained from forest nurseries in Antalya, Balıkesir, Denizli, Eskişehir and Isparta. Morphological and molecular analysis showed that D. sapinea was isolated from 4% to 1% of Pinus pinea and P. brutia seeds. Fungal colonies other than D. sapinea isolated from seeds on the selective medium were also identified morphologically. The most common species found were Sydowia polyspora, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium spp., Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani, which are harmful to seeds, were also isolated. Other fungi isolated from the seeds were Trichoderma harzianum, Aureobasidium pullulans, Trimmatostroma salicis, Rhizoctonia solani, Chaetomium globosum, and Stephylium spp.