Winter damage caused by Typhula ishikariensis biological species I on conifer seedlings and hop roots collected in the Volga–Ural regions of Russia

Abstract

It has been reported that Typhula graminearum and Typhula humulina cause winter damage to cultivated conifer seedlings and hop (Humulus lupulus) roots, respectively, in the European part of Russia. However, the Russian phytopathogist V.G. Potatosova reported that those fungi had the same morphological characteristics as those of Typhula ishikariensis causing snow mold. Since all reports on those fungi are written in Russian, few phytopathologists outside the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics know about these fungi. We collected sclerotia from winterdamaged pine (Pinus sylvestris) seedlings from the European part of Russia and hop roots from West Siberia. Localities where T. graminearum and T. humulina were reported in the literature overlapped those where sclerotiaforming fungi causing snow mold were recorded in the literature and in the present survey. Our fungal isolates from symptomatic pines and hop roots from both regions showed the same morphological and genetic characteristics as those of T. ishikariensis biological species I. Our findings support the hypothesis of Potatosova, and T. graminearum and T. humulina should be included in T. ishikariensis biological species I.