First report of southern blight on kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) caused by Athelia rolfsii in Turkey

Abstract

Kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala) has been commonly cultivated in the Black Sea Region, Turkey. In 2017, wilting, subsequent death symptoms, and brown sclerotia and a mass of white cottony mycelium at the stem bases were observed on kale plants grown in three surveyed fields located in Ordu province, with a disease incidence of 12.5%. To isolate the pathogen, small sections were excised from the symptomatic tissues, plated on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) amended with antibiotics after a superficially-disinfestation and incubated at 25 °C in the dark for 10 days. The fungal colonies with white mycelium and large numbers of round creamy sclerotia were obtained on PDA. The septate hyphae with clamp connections were determined by examining under a light microscope.