Atripes paspali gen. et sp. nov. (Magnaporthaceae) causing take‐all disease on Paspalum guenoarum in Brazil

Abstract

Paspalum is one of the largest genera in the family Poaceae and includes approximately 350 species of plants, mainly distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the American continent (Zuloaga and Morrone, 2005). More than 200 species occur in Brazil (Oliveira and Valls, 2002), most of which are native and naturally found in different Brazilian biomes (Zuloaga and Morrone, 2005). Paspalum species have great morphological and physiological diversity (Sartor et al., 2009). Those with desirable agronomic characteristics, such as cold and drought tolerance, low nutritional requirement, resistance to trampling, dry matter production, fast soil cover, and low maintenance requirements, are used in sports lawns, landscape projects, and as forage for livestock (Duncan and Carrow, 2000; Cidade et al., 2013; Steiner et al., 2017). However, the occurrence of fungal diseases affects the production and quality of these plants and cause economic and ecological losses (Duncan and Carrow, 2000; Vargas, 2004). Plants of Paspalum guenoarum ecotype "Azulão" with symptoms of take-all disease were observed in Eldorado do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. In the field, wilted plants with chlorotic or necrotic leaves were found in patches that vary in shape and size, with well-defined borders between plants with and without symptoms. Individually, the diseased plants showed rot of roots and culms (Figure 1). In other Paspalum species, take-all disease has commonly been associated with the Magnaporthaceae fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis (Lenne,