Prevalence, molecular characterization, and variety reactions of Neoscytalidium novaehollandiae on mulberries in Turkey

Abstract

urkey is one of noteworthy countries for both fruit genetic resources and amount of fruit production in the world. Mulberry is cultivated throughout Turkey, most commonly in Central, Northeast and Southeast Anatolia. Mulberry has a great market potential thanks to its fresh consumption and usage of processed food products. In June 2019, a disease was observed causing deaths in shoots and branches on mulberry trees in Malatya province of Turkey. The causative agent of the disease was identified as Neoscytalidium novaehollandiae according to morphological characteristics and sequencing of TEF 1-a gene (Accession no. MT362602 and MT362603), ITS (Accession no. MT195554 and MT195555) and LSU (Accession no. MT195552 and MT195553). Based on the concatenated sequences of the ITS, TEF 1-a, and LSU, a phylogenetic tree was built using Bayesian analysis. Reactions of nine mulberry cultivars against the disease ('Ulukale', Ayas/, 'Ichinose', 'Poser', 'Kenmochi', Arapgir', 'San as/, 'Horum' and 'Istanbul') inoculated with Malatya isolate of A! novaehollandiae were evaluated under growth chamber conditions. All-mulberry cultivars artificially inoculated with N. novaehollandiae isolate exhibited severe necrosis symptoms on woody tissues of tested plants. It was confirmed that N. novaehollandiae is a fungal pathogen associated with dieback and canker on mulberry trees in Turkey for the first time. New mulberry plantations could be endangered by this emerging new disease.