Detection of Rhynchosporium secalis in barley seeds from Argentina through polymerase chain reaction technique

Abstract

Leaf scald of barley caused by Rhynchosporium secalis is an important disease in Argentina. The fungus is a necrotrophic pathogen which survives in stubble, seeds and weeds. Isolation of R. secalis from seeds on artificial media usually has not been successful due to the slow growth rate of the pathogen and strong inhibition by contaminants. The objective in this work was to detect R. secalis in different genotypes of barley seeds in Argentina using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic assay. Four barley genotypes were tested in 2004: Quilmes Ayelén, Quilmes Alfa, Barke and Maltería Pampa 1004. The previously described RS8 and RS9 primers were used for the detection of R. secalis in barley seeds. A 264-bp single band was obtained for each cultivar showing the presence of R. secalis. The use of specific primers was efficient in the detection of R. secalis in barley seeds in Argentina and could be used for routine diagnosis, epidemiology and seed transmission studies. This is the first report on the detection of R. secalis in barley seeds in Argentina.

Conventional PCR for detection of Corynespora cassiicola in soybean seeds

“…Through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, conventional and/or quantitative, pathogens were successfully detected in seeds by molecular means in the pathosystems Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. phaseoli in common bean seeds (Sousa et al, 2015), Colletotrichum lindemuthianum in common bean seeds (Chen et al, 2007(Chen et al, , 2013, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in soybean seeds (Botelho et al, 2015), Rhynchosporium secalis in barley seeds (Ríos et al, 2007), Peronospora variabilis in quinoa (Testen et al, 2014), and Macrophomina phaseolina in slender amaranth (Biswas et al, 2013), among others.…”