Morphological and Molecular Study of Fungi Isolated from Potato Crown, Root and Tuber in Kurdistan Province

Potato is one of the major Agronomic crops in Kurdistan province. Many fungi have been reported as the causal agents of tuber, crown and root rot and canker on potato plants. The objective of this study was to identify fungal agents associated with tuber, crown and root rot and canker of potato. Samples were collected from diseased plants in East of Kurdistan (Ghorveh and Dehgolan) during cropping season in 2014. Samples were first washed under tap water and then sliced to 0.5-1 cm pieces, surface sterilized and plated on general or selective culture media. In total 151 isolates were obtained from tuber, crown and roots of infected potatoes and purified using single spore or hyphal tip. Fungal isolates were identified based on morphological and sequence data of ITS, RPB2 and TEF loci. Finally, based on morphologic characters and DNA sequence data 10 species belonging to four genera were identified including Alternaria arborescens, A. alternata, A. atra, A. embellisia, Colletotrichum coccodes, Fusarium equiseti, F. redolens, F. tricinctum, Neocosmospora rubicola and N. haematococca. Among the identified genera, Fusarium with 93 isolates was the most frequent genus.