First Report of Fusarium Wilt Caused by Fusarium proliferatum on Safflower

Wilt disease appeared the first in greenhouse-grown safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) in Jeonju, Korea. With the advancement of the disease, the infected plants were withered and died. In order to investigate the causal organism of this symptom disease, fungus was isolated from the infected plants and cultured on potato dextrose agar medium. The fungus showed the white or orange colony color with aerial mycelium. Macroconidia were from falcate to straight, usually 3-5 septate with $38.0-66.7{\times}2.9-4.4{\mu}m$. The fungus was inoculated to a new safflower plant and caused the same wilt. With morphological characters and pathogenicity results, sequence analyses (internal transcribed spacer ribosomal DNA and translation elongation factor $1{\alpha}$) suggested that, the isolated fungus is Fusarium proliferatum. This is the first report of Fusarium wilt disease caused by F. proliferatum on safflower in Korea.