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Fusarium equiseti is associated with the wilt and dieback of Aquilaria malaccensis in Northeast India
Author(s) -
Pandey Shailesh,
Rishi R Raja,
Jayaraj RSC,
Giri Krishna,
Kumar Rajesh,
Pandey Amit,
Juwantha Ranjana,
Madaan Sheeba,
Bhandari Maneesh S.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
forest pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.535
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1439-0329
pISSN - 1437-4781
DOI - 10.1111/efp.12489
Subject(s) - biology , agarwood , horticulture , inoculation , diospyros , botany , collar rot , sclerotium , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
Aquilaria malaccensis , categorized by IUCN as globally vulnerable, is in high demand in the Middle East and Asian markets for its unique resinous agarwood. In August 2015, symptoms of dieback were observed on A. malaccensis trees planted in the Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Garden, Panbari, Golaghat of the Assam Forest Department. The entire crowns of 70 trees showed complete leaf loss and severe dieback. Rotting at the collar region and of roots was also observed. Isolation from the infected roots consistently yielded Fusarium equiseti identified following standard laboratory procedures and analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence of the ribosomal DNA. Symptoms of wilt, dieback and root rot were observed on 5‐month‐old Aquilaria seedlings 25 days after inoculation with the isolated fungus. This paper is the first report of F. equiseti causing wilt and dieback of A. malaccensis .