Disease Note.

First Report of Fusarium equiseti on South African Soybean Cultivars. G. Koning, Bot-any Department, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa . B. Hamman, A. Eicker, and H. A. van de Venter, Bot-any Department, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa, . Plant Dis. 79:754. Accepted for publication 22 May 1995. Copyright 1995 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-79-0754D.

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) seed lots harvested in 1993 from six sites within South Africa, exhibited marked differences in their germina lion performance. Since Seedborne pathogens are known to negatively affect seed quality, a health survey was conducted to possibly interpret differences in performance. Seed samples of six cultivars (Columbus, Crawford, Prima, Highveld Top, Ibis, and Impala), each from Ermelo, Greytown, Groblersdal, Potchefstroom, Piet Relief, and Riet River, were surface sterilized in 0.5% NaOCI for 4 min and plated out onto potalo dextrose agar (pH 4.5). Both saprophytic and pathogenic fungi were present, to the extent that 26% of the seed samples were infested by pathogenic fungi, and 65% of the fungal isolates were identified as Fusarium equiseti (Corda) Sacc. Of the fungal isolates, 70% from High veld Top and 81% from Ibis were identified as F. equiseti, while 55% of the fungal isolates from the remaining four cultivars were identified as F equiseti. Fusarium is a genus containing many common soil saprophytes and plant pathogens that can colonize a wide host range. Although there have been reports of F. equiseti in many temperate and tropical countries in Africa (1), this is the first report of F. equiseti on soybean seeds in-South Africa.