Page 48 - Volume 1, Issue 1, January 2008
Basic HTML Version
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
1
: 46-54, 2008
First report of
Phytophthora primulae
in Greece: identification
based on morphology and DNA analysis and determination of
its host range
K. Elena
1
and A. Grigoriou
2
Summary
A severe disease of parsley was observed in Southeastern Greece during the win-
ter 2002 that reappeared the following years. Symptoms of the disease included root and stem
rot, chlorosis and wilting of the leaves. Isolates that belonged to the genus
Phytophthora
were ob-
tained from diseased plants. The morphological and physiological characters were close to these
of
Phytophthora primulae.
PCR-RFLPs patterns of the ITS region were generated from isolates of
P. porri, P. primulae
and
P. syringae
by digestion with the restriction endonucleases
Alu
I,
Msp
I and
Taq
I.
P. syringae
showed different PCR-RFLPs patterns from those of
P. porri
and
P. primulae,
which
were identical. After amplification of the ITS region the sequence of the parsley isolate was found
to share high homology with the CBS620.97 (AF266802) isolate of
P. primulae
. Pathogenicity of
P.
primulae
isolates was tested on artificially inoculated parsley plants as well as on primula plants
and various vegetable species including tomato, and the winter crops: lettuce,
cauliflower, broc-
coli, red cabbage, white cabbage, leek, Brussels sprout, and carrot.
P. primulae
isolates were patho-
genic to parsley, but not to any other plant tested. All parsley plants developed symptoms simi-
lar to those observed in the field and died three to five weeks after inoculation. Control (non inoc-
ulated) plants and all the other plant species tested remained healthy. Isolates of
P. cryptogea, P.
citrophthora P. porri
and
P. nicotianae,
were not pathogenic, when tested on parsley plants. Final-
ly, when apple fruits, potato tubers and onion bulbs were inoculated with
P. primulae
, only apple
fruits were infected. To our knowledge, this is the first report of
Phytophthora primulae
in Greece
and the second on parsley wordwide.
Additional keywords:
Pathogenicity,
Petroselinum crispum,
primula, ITS, PCR-RFLP
1
Department of Phytopathology, Benaki Phytopatho-
logical Institute, 8 St. Delta str., GR-145 61 Kifissia (Ath-
ens), Greece, e-mail:
2
Agricultural University of Athens, Department of
Plant Pathology, 75 Iera Odos, GR-118 55 Votanikos
(Athens), Greece
wilting of the leaves. When soil moisture
levels were high, plants were destroyed.
Initial observations placed the pathogen
in
Phytophthora
sp. Species of the genus
Phytophthora
are destructive pathogens,
attacking a broad range of economical-
ly important woody perennials or annu-
al crops, including vegetables, in Greece.
Among vegetables they cause heavy loss-
es to tomatoes (
Lycopersicon esculentum
Miller) potatoes (
Solanum tuberosum
L.),
peppers (
Capsicum anuum
L.)
, lettuce (Lac-
tuca sativa
L.) etc
(5, 8)
.
Additionally, many
species of
Phytophthora
from several oth-
er hosts such as citrus, deciduous and nut
Introduction
A root rot of parsley [
Petroselinum crispum
(Mill.) Nym. Ex A.W. Hill] occurred for the
first time in commercial fields at Marathon,
Attica County during the winter 2002. The
disease reappeared the following years,
causing significant yield losses. Symptoms
included root and stem rot, chlorosis and
