Abstract

ALLENDE MOLAR, Raúl et al. Morphological and Molecular Identification of Penicillium oxalicum Causing Stem and Fruit Rot in Tomato. Rev. mex. fitopatol [online]. 2013, vol.31, n.1, pp.13-19. ISSN 2007-8080.

During the agricultural cycles 2008, 2009, 2010, a tomato stem rot has been observed in tomato growing areas in Culiacan, Sinaloa. A Penicillium sp. was consistently isolated from infected stem; Since Penicillium sp is not a common pathogen on tomato, the objective was to identify the Penicillium sp. affecting tomato stems and to evaluate the potential of the fungus to cause postharvest rot in tomato fruits. Pathogenicity of the isolates was determined by artificial inoculations made in stems of healthy tomato plants. The morphological identification included the evaluation of colony growth rate and color, pigments of the colonies on Czapek Yeast Agar and Malt Extract Agar and the spore and conidiophore morphology. The identification by molecular techniques was performed by amplification and sequencing of a fragment of rDNA, with primers ITS1/ITS4. Penicillium oxalicum was identified as a pathogen on tomato plants and as a postharvest pathogen on tomato fruit.

Keywords : Penicillium oxalicum; tomato; stem rot; postharvest rot.

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