Characterization of Fusarium spp. Causing Potato Dry Rot in China and Susceptibility Evaluation of Chinese Potato Germplasm to the Pathogen

Dry rot is a serious potato disease and causes significant losses in China. Research efforts on potato dry rot have been very limited as well as the attempts to characterize the pathogen in the major potato production regions of China. A total of 260 Fusarium isolates were identified in 698 potato tubers collected in six important potato production regions of northern China, out of which five different Fusarium species, Fusarium sambucinum, F. avenaceum, F. oxysporum, F. equiseti, and F. acuminatum, were isolated. The identification of each species was confirmed by sequencing analysis of similar to 700 bp DNA fragment derived from the translation elongation factor-1 alpha gene. F. sambucinum was found to be the predominant species accounting for 56% of the isolates. Different pathogenicity was found to be associated with five most common Fusarium species. Sixty-seven clones used in China were identified as susceptible to F. sambucinum, indicating little scope for developing resistant cultivars using the currently available potato germplasm.