Browsing by Author "Qiu, Yachen"

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is an important vegetable, which provides major nutritional benefits. In Finland, basal rot caused by Fusarium fungal species (FBR) has become the most destructive disease of onion in recent years. It causes damping off and stunted growth on onion seedlings and root death and abscission and bulb rot on mature onions. The average onion crop loss caused by basal rot has been up to 10% in conventional farming and as high as 30% in organic farming. In this study, a seedling assay was conducted to test the virulence of different Fusarium isolates on a commercial onion cultivar. The study goals were, primarily, to find out which of the Fusarium isolates, originating from onion and crop rotation plants grown in Finland, are pathogenic, and secondly, to compare the virulence of different isolates. Altogether 115 Fusarium isolates were tested for virulence on onion seedlings in a greenhouse. Fifty-five of the tested isolates of F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum and F. redolens were more or less virulent. 19.4% of F. oxysporum isolates, 35.3% of F. proliferatum isolates and 18.2% of F. redolens isolates showed high virulence. Among the aggressive pathogens isolated from onion samples, F. oxysporum f.sp. cepae is still the dominant onion pathogen, F. proliferatum is a new pathogen on onion in Finland, and relatively more aggressive than F. oxysporum. The F. solani and F. tricinctum isolates tested did not have any detrimental effects on the onion seedling health or growth. In order to control FBR in Finland, avoiding planting onion in the infested soils, growing onions from local seedlings to avoid new contamination and storing onions at cold temperatures are recommended.