Molecular and pathogenic characterization of Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium proliferatum causing basal root rot in garlic in Turkey

Diseases caused by Fusarium species in garlic, which is among the products of economic importance, cause serious yield losses. While the isolation and characterization of Fusarium species has mostly been done from cloves and storage, the disease agent has been documented in very few seedling stages. In our study, eight isolates were obtained from specimens at the seedling stage, and species were defined according to morphological and molecular characterizations. Two isolates were identified as F. oxysporum, and the other six as F. proliferatum. As a result of cross pathogenicity of F. oxysporum isolates with onions, these isolates were defined as F. oxysporum f. sp. garlic. According to the data obtained from our study, these species that cause basal rot in garlic from Turkey were characterized for the first time using molecular techniques. In addition, this publication Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. garlic is the first report from Turkey.