First report of Fusarium madaense as a cause of root and stalk rot on Sorghum bicolor in Australia

Abstract

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is mainly grown for stock feed in eastern Australia where significant economic losses result from diseases caused by Fusarium spp. (Petrovic et al., 2009; Kelly et al., 2017). During the 2018 sorghum growing season, 66 plants showing symptoms typical of Fusarium infection were randomly collected from three sorghum fields in Barramornie (27.08○N, 150.11°E), southern Queensland. Fusarium isolates were obtained from surface-sterilised sorghum stem or root pieces (1 cm) placed on Fusarium-selective PCNB media (Leslie & Summerell, 2008) and incubated at 23°C for five days. Ninety single-spore cultures were sub-cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) for molecular characterisation and 17 of these were deposited into the Queensland Plant Pathology Herbarium (BRIP, Brisbane, Australia).