A new host for Fusarium algeriense causing crown and root rot on barley in Kyrgyzstan

After maize, wheat and rice, barley is the most widely planted and economically important cereal crop in the Kyrgyzstan's highlands (Usubaliev et al., 2013) and worldwide. In two barley fields in the Manas district of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, diseased plants exhibiting crown and root rot, stunting and brown discolouration on internodes were observed in 2020. Disease incidence was approximately 5 in the two fields.Small sections of root and crown tissues from diseased plants were surface sterilised in 1 (v/v) sodium hypochlorite solution for one minute before being placed onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with streptomycin (0.1 g/l). Plates were incubated at 23°C in the dark for five days in order to isolate the pathogen(s). Five Fusarium isolates with similar morphology were selected and purified on fresh PDA and Spezieller-Nährstoffarmer agar (SNA) plates using the hyphal tip method. After one week of incubation under a 12 hour photoperiod, pure colonies were orange-white on PDA (Figure 1). Ellipsoidal microconidia produced in false heads on monophialides were usually aseptate (8.30 ± 1.17 × 2.56 ± 0.24 μm, n 50) and occasionally one-septate (21.89 ± 2.01 × 2.95 ± 0.30 μm, n 50) (Figure 2). Sporodochial macroconidia were mostly 3–4 septate, measuring 43.40 ± 2.82 × 4.11 ± 0.51 μm (n 50) (Figure 3). Chlamydospores were absent.