Verticillium dahliae and Verticillium nonalfalfae occurrence and abundance in several agricultural fields from Nova Scotia, Canada, assessed by real-time quantitative PCR

• Published in: European journal of plant pathology Vol. 154; no. 4; pp. 1171 - 1177
• Main Authors: Borza, Tudor, Govindarajan, Anjana, Stephen, Jancy, Best, Kim, Pruski, Kris, Wang-Pruski, Gefu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-08-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Agricultural economics; Agricultural land; Agricultural practices; Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Crop production; Crop rotation; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Ecology; Economic importance; Geographical distribution; Incidence; Life Sciences; Pathogens; Plant Pathology; Plant Sciences; Polymerase chain reaction; Potatoes; Real time; Ribosomal DNA; Spacer; Strawberries; Verticillium dahliae; Verticillium wilt; Canada; Nova Scotia Canada; Pathogen quantification by real-time quantitative PCR; Soil borne pathogens
• ISSN: 0929-1873; 1573-8469
• DOI: 10.1007/s10658-019-01712-3

Verticillium dahliae
and
Verticillium nonalfalfae
are soil-borne fungal pathogens with a ubiquitous geographical distribution affecting a wide range of plants of economic importance. Though
Verticillium
wilt represents a major problem for crop production in Nova Scotia, Canada, little is known about the distribution of these pathogens in the major agricultural areas from this province. To address the paucity of available data, a molecular-based survey of these
Verticillium
pathogens, documenting their distribution, incidence, and in-sample abundance, was carried out for two successive years, in several representative agricultural locations in this province. Soil and plant samples (potato and strawberry) were analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR targeting the Intergenic Spacer ribosomal DNA locus of the
Verticillium
pathogens. Molecular data revealed that
V. dahliae
has a wider distribution and a higher incidence than
V. nonalfalfae
(former
V. albo-atrum
group 1) in the tested fields while
V. albo-atrum
sensu stricto (former
V. albo-atrum
group 2) was not identified in any of the samples collected from this region. Also,
V. dahliae
was found to have a higher incidence in fields used to grow potatoes as compared to fields used to grow strawberries, irrespective of the rotating crops.