• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.409-419
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• 2015

This study was conducted to establish an efficient screening method for watermelon plants resistant to Fusarium wilt (FW), which is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (Fon). An HA isolate was prepared from a wilted watermelon plant in Haman-gun and identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum based on morphological characteristics, molecular analyses of ITS (internal transcribed spacer) and TEF (translation elongation factor $1{\alpha}$) sequences, and host specificity on cucurbits including watermelon, melon, oriental melon, and cucumber. The assay for disease response of watermelon differentials indicated that the HA isolate was race 0. Among seven liquid media tested, the highest amount of Fon spores was produced from V8-juice broth, which was selected as a medium for mass production of Fon. The disease assay for 21 watermelon and 11 watermelon-rootstock cultivars demonstrated that 20 watermelon cultivars except for 'Soknoranggul' were susceptible; 'Soknoranggul' was moderately resistant. All the tested rootstock cultivars were highly resistant to the HA isolate. The evaluation of disease development depending on various conditions suggested that an efficient screening method for FW resistance in watermelon plants is to dip the roots of 10-day-old seedlings in spore suspension of $1.0{\times}10^5-1.0{\times}10^6conidia{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ for 30 min., to transplant the seedlings to plastic pots with a fertilized soil, and then to cultivate the plants at $25^{\circ}C$ for 3 weeks.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2015

In April 2014, Fusarium wilt was found on kohlrabi seedlings in Iksan, Korea. Symptoms included wilting of foliage, drying and withering of older leaves, and stunting of the plants. The infected plants eventually died during growth. Colonies on potato dextrose agar were pinkish white, and felted with cottony and aerial mycelium. Macroconidia were falcate to almost straight, thin walled and usually 3-septate. Microconidia were usually formed abundantly in false-heads on short monophialides on the hyphae and were hyaline, smooth, oval to ellipsoidal, aseptate or medianly 1-septate, very occasionally 2-septate, slightly constricted at the septa, $4-11{\times}2.5-5{\mu}m$. On the basis of the morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of molecular markers (internal transcribed spacer rDNA and translation elongation factor $1{\alpha}$), the fungus was identified as Fusarium oxysporum. Pathogenicity of a representative isolate was proved by artificial inoculation, fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the occurrence of Fusarium oxysporum on kohlrabi in Korea.