Abstract
After the reappearance in Italy of a foliar disease of lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella olitoria L. Poll. syn. V. locusta L. Betcke) incited by Phoma valerianellae, we set out to measure the level of seed infection by this fungus, using a plating test, and to develop a molecular method for quick and reliable detection of the pathogen in seeds. All six samples of lamb’s lettuce seed tested were contaminated by P. valerianellae at levels of 0.6% to 15%. Surface disinfection of seeds did not eliminate the contamination and only reduced it to between 0.1% and 10%. The need for a sensitive, reliable and rapid diagnostic method for early identification of the fungus exists. We have developed a PCR-based method to identify the fungus in seeds. Variation within the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1, 5.8S sequences and ITS2) region of the rDNA (ITS) was used to characterize the P. valerianellae strains and to design specific primers within the ITS region.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a grant from CIPE, Project “Advanced diagnostic tools, disease detection networking and technical extension for non-conventional disease control strategies in vegetable production in Piedmont (ADVANET)”. The authors thank Mrs. Incoronata Luongo for technical support and Dr. Robert Milne for language revision.
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Pellegrino, C., Gilardi, G., Gullino, M.L. et al. Detection of Phoma valerianellae in lamb’s lettuce seeds. Phytoparasitica 38, 159–165 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-010-0084-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-010-0084-x