TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular characterization and disease control of stem canker on royal poinciana (Delonix regia) caused by neoscytalidium dimidiatum in the United Arab Emirates
AU - Al Raish, Seham M.
AU - Saeed, Esam Eldin
AU - Sham, Arjun
AU - Alblooshi, Khulood
AU - El-Tarabily, Khaled A.
AU - Abuqamar, Synan F.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by Khalifa Center for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering-UAEU, grant number 31R081) to S.F.AQ.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), royal poinciana (Delonix regia) trees suffer from stem canker disease. Symptoms of stem canker can be characterized by branch and leaf dryness, bark lesions, discoloration of xylem tissues, longitudinal wood necrosis and extensive gumming. General dieback signs were also observed leading to complete defoliation of leaves and ultimately death of trees in advanced stages. The fungus, Neoscytalidium dimidiatum DSM 109897, was consistently recovered from diseased royal poinciana tissues; this was confirmed by the molecular, structural and morphological studies. Phylogenetic analyses of the translation elongation factor 1-a (TEF1-α) of N. dimidiatum from the UAE with reference specimens of Botryosphaeriaceae family validated the identity of the pathogen. To manage the disease, the chemical fungicides, Protifert®, Cidely® Top and Amistrar® Top, significantly inhibited mycelial growth and reduced conidial numbers of N. dimidiatum in laboratory and greenhouse experiments. The described “apple bioassay” is an innovative approach that can be useful when performing fungicide treatment studies. Under field conditions, Cidely® Top proved to be the most effective fungicide against N. dimidiatum among all tested treatments. Our data suggest that the causal agent of stem canker disease on royal poinciana in the UAE is N. dimidiatum.
AB - In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), royal poinciana (Delonix regia) trees suffer from stem canker disease. Symptoms of stem canker can be characterized by branch and leaf dryness, bark lesions, discoloration of xylem tissues, longitudinal wood necrosis and extensive gumming. General dieback signs were also observed leading to complete defoliation of leaves and ultimately death of trees in advanced stages. The fungus, Neoscytalidium dimidiatum DSM 109897, was consistently recovered from diseased royal poinciana tissues; this was confirmed by the molecular, structural and morphological studies. Phylogenetic analyses of the translation elongation factor 1-a (TEF1-α) of N. dimidiatum from the UAE with reference specimens of Botryosphaeriaceae family validated the identity of the pathogen. To manage the disease, the chemical fungicides, Protifert®, Cidely® Top and Amistrar® Top, significantly inhibited mycelial growth and reduced conidial numbers of N. dimidiatum in laboratory and greenhouse experiments. The described “apple bioassay” is an innovative approach that can be useful when performing fungicide treatment studies. Under field conditions, Cidely® Top proved to be the most effective fungicide against N. dimidiatum among all tested treatments. Our data suggest that the causal agent of stem canker disease on royal poinciana in the UAE is N. dimidiatum.
KW - Chemical fungicide
KW - Disease control
KW - Neoscytalidium dimidiatum
KW - Royal poinciana
KW - Stem canker
KW - UAE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079080484&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85079080484&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijms21031033
DO - 10.3390/ijms21031033
M3 - Article
C2 - 32033175
AN - SCOPUS:85079080484
SN - 1661-6596
VL - 21
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
IS - 3
M1 - 1033
ER -