Identification and pathogenicity of Fusarium spp. from stem bases of winter wheat in Erzurum, Turkey

Four-hundred-sixty-eight Fusarium and Fusarium-like isolates were obtained from crowns and subcrown internodes of winter wheat grown in Erzurum, Turkey. Of these isolates, 34.8% were Fusarium acuminatum, 32.3% were F. equiseti, 16.9% were F. oxysporum, 15.0% were Microdochium nivale (formerly Fusarium nivale), 0.6% were F. tabacinum and 0.4% were F. solani. In pathogenicity tests on wheat, the highest disease severity was caused by isolates of M. nivale, whereas isolates of F. acuminatum, F. equiseti, F. oxysporum and F. solani were slightly virulent; isolates of F. tabacinum were nonpathogenic. This is the first report of M. nivale and M. tabacinum from wheat in Turkey.