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First Report of Stem Canker Caused by Alternaria alternata on Cotton

A stem blight of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) was observed on plants of cv. 132 in the district of Ammoudia near Serres in northern Greece. Symptoms of the disease include cankers on the stem, leaf spots, and boll rots. Affected plants show early defoliation and maturing, as well as total or partial necrosis. Symptoms on stems include dark brown, circular spots that enlarge rapidly. The center of the lesions sink to form a canker. Gradually the spots become elliptical, and the tissues split the stem longitudinally, resulting in the total or partial death of the plant. The fungus isolated from infected stem tissues was identified as typical Alternaria alternata (Nees:Fr.) Keissler, based on morphological characteristics of conidia, which are produced in a loose three-dimensional tuft of branching chains (2). Pathogenicity tests were conducted by inoculating 50 cotton stems with 5-mm disks from 9-day-old cultures on potato dextrose agar at 25°C. Each stem was inoculated with three disks, and plants were placed at room temperature for 10 days for disease development. Inoculated plants exhibited more than 95% disease incidence, and frequency of reisolation was more than 70%. A. alternata is commonly known as a leaf spot, boll rot, and seedling blight pathogen of cotton. The only reported stem blight pathogen of cotton is A. macrospora (1). This is the first report of typical A. alternata as the cause of stem blight on cotton.

References: (1) L. Ling and F. Y. Yang. Phytopathology 31:664, 1941. (2) E. G. Simmons. Mycotaxon 48:109, 1993.