Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Fusarium spp. causing Post Flowering Stalk Rot of Maize

Abstract

Ten isolates of Fusarium spp. (F. proliferatum) (4 isolates), F. verticillioides (5 isolates), and F. pallidoroseum (1 isolates) were collected from different parts of Rajasthan from rotted maize stalks and identified by ITCC, IARI (New Delhi, India). The maximum colony diameter (90mm), sporulation (3.4x105 X 3.8x105), size of macroconidia (40.24 X 6.60) and microconidia (10.33 X 1.50) and septation (5-7) were observed in isolate Fv-01 (F. verticillioides) whereas minimum colony diameter (54.70mm), sporulation (0.8 x105 X 1.6 x105), size of macroconidia (17.57 X 1.80) and microconidia (9.09 X 1.48) was observed in isolate Fv-09 (F. proliferatum) . On the basis of cultural and morphological characters of all the ten isolates showed variability, but based on RAPDPCR analysis, these isolates can be categorized into two major clusters I and II at 0.44% similarity coefficient. RAPD-PCR analysis suggested that variability was observed between species of Fusarium recovered from maize and the technique could be use to complement morphological characterization and to determine genetic relationships between the species.