Alternative species to replaceMonterey pine plantations affected by pitch canker caused byFusarium circinatumin northernSpain

Abstract

The pitch canker pathogen Fusarium circinatum was first found to cause damage in nurseries and pine plantations in northern Spain in 2004. Since then, establishment of pine plantations in the region has decreased as a result of the prohibitions placed on planting Pinus spp. and Pseudotsuga menziesii in areas affected by the disease. However, although most pine species have been found to be susceptible to the pathogen under nursery conditions, little is known about how the fungus affects the trees in the field. Furthermore, it is not known whether some of the native or exotic species commonly planted in the area are also susceptible to F. circinatum. The aim of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of several conifer species commonly planted in northern Spain to the pitch canker pathogen. For this purpose, two different trials were carried out, one under controlled laboratory conditions and the other in the field. Although most of the conifers were affected by the pathogen in the laboratory tests, only Pinus radiata, Pinus nigra, Pinus pinaster and Pinus uncinata were susceptible to the pathogen in the field.

Evaluation of the Susceptibility of Several Czech Conifer Provenances to Fusarium circinatum

“…The present study demonstrated the pathogenicity of F. circinatum to the Czech provenance of P. sylvestris, which is in concordance with previous studies carried out with Spanish provenances [28][29][30]61]. Inoculated seedlings started dying 37 days after inoculation, although approximately half of the seedlings survived up to 5 months after inoculation.…”

“…The Fusarium circinatum isolate (FcCa6) used in this work belongs to mating type 2 (MAT-2) and was isolated from an infected Pinus radiata tree located in Comillas (Cantabria, Northern Spain; GPS: 4 • 17 17.706" W; 43 • 20 5.033" N; 265 m above sea level) [28,[48][49][50]. Plant material consisted of seedlings of three Czech conifers: P. sylvestris, P. abies, and L. decidua.…”

Short communication: Effect of mycoviruses on growth, spore germination and pathogenicity of the fungus Fusarium circinatum

“…In the present study, the presence or absence of mycoviruses (FcMV1 and/ or FcMV2-2) was confirmed according to Martínez-Álvarez et al (2014b). For in vitro experiments, an isolate (FcCa06) previously confirmed as mycovirusfree and pathogenic (Martínez-Álvarez et al, 2012(Martínez-Álvarez et al, , 2014a was also used.…”

“…The conidia suspension was obtained from F. circinatum isolates cultured for seven days in PDB at 25ºC and darkness. Aliquots (100 μL) of spore suspension (adjusted to 10 6 conidia/mL using a hemocytometer) were inoculated into the wound, which was covered with Parafilm © to prevent drying (Martínez-Álvarez et al, 2014a). Twenty-seven seedlings were inoculated for each isolate tested.…”

“…The effects of mycoviruses on spore production and pathogenesis have also been widely reported (Kazmierczak et al, 1996;Wang et al, 2014, Zamora et al, 2016, indicating the potentially damaging effects of the viruses on plant health. Three different species of the genus Mitovirus that infect F. circinatum have recently been identified as putative members of Narnaviridae (genus Mitovirus) and designated Fusarium circinatum mitovirus 1, 2-1 and 2-2 (FcMV1, FcMV2-1 and FcMV2-2) (Martínez-Álvarez et al, 2014a;Vainio et al, 2015;Muñoz-Adalia et al, 2016a).…”