APPLICATION OF CLASSICAL AND MOLECULAR TECHNIQUES IN DETECTION OF Armillaria mellea THE CAUSAL AGENT OF ROOT AND CROWN ROT DISEASE FROM SOIL AND WOOD

YOSEFI HAMEDANI, E.; SHARIFNABI, B.; BAHAR, M.

APPLICATION OF CLASSICAL AND MOLECULAR TECHNIQUES IN DETECTION OF Armillaria mellea THE CAUSAL AGENT OF ROOT AND CROWN ROT DISEASE FROM SOIL AND WOOD

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Abstract

Armillaria mellea the causal agent of root and crown rot of trees has a universal distribution and causes extensive economic disease on a broad host range of trees in gardens, forests and urban environments. The pathogen can survive under the bark as inoculum and there is no effective control method against the disease, so pathogen detection from soil and wood is important to predict disease severity and prevent disease dispersal from one tree to another. To achieve a rapid and sensitive detection method for A. mellea in soil and wood, sampling was performed from fruiting bodies, soil and wood and after isolation of pathogen on culture media, comparison was done among different detection methods using a semi-selective medium, baiting and molecular methods. Inoculum was prepared for two isolates of A. mellea and was inoculated to soil. Pathogen detection was done with soil direct culture method, baiting and nested PCR simultaneously. The culture medium was not effective to detect pathogen in long-term period. In baiting method, Pelargonium hortorum was used as a baiting plant that required long time to detect pathogen. The results revealed that nested PCR is an efficient method for detection of A. mellea

Keywords