Dilophospora alopecuri
Dilophospora alopecuri (Fr.) Fr., Summa veg. Scand., Sectio Post. (Stockholm): 419 (1849) Fig. 1
º Sphaeria alopecuri Fr., Elench. fung. (Greifswald) 2: 90 (1828)
Index Fungorum number: IF 182994; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06234
Pathogenic on the surface of living leaves of Festuca rubra. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Conidiomata 230–390 μm high × 373–599 μm diam., stromatic, varying from pycnidioid to indeterminate, subepidermal, immersed, uni- to plurilocular, dark brown to brown, glabrous. Pycnidial wall 16–35 μm consists of two layers, thick outer wall of brown textura globulosa, and inner layer of paler brown to hyaline textura prismatica. Conidiophores ascending from the inner layers lining the conidioma, or at the base and extending part way up the side walls, lightly septate and intermittently branched, frequently reduced to conidiogenous cells, hyaline, thin and smooth-walled, with percurrent proliferations, and apical periclinal thickenings. Conidia 11–15 µm × 1–2 µm (x̅ = 12.7 × 1.9 µm, n = 20), cylindrical to fusoid with an acute or blunt apex and a truncate base, straight or slightly curved, 3–4 euseptate, apical cell hyaline, other cells hyaline, smooth-walled, with or without constrictions at septa, apical appendage multiple, arising as a tubular extension of the apical cell and not separated from it by a septum, with 2–4 narrow, attenuated, flexuous, divergent branches, basal appendage tubular, single, branched, exogenous, filiform, flexuous.
Material examined – SWEDEN, Knivsta, Uppsala County, on leaves of Festuca rubra (Poaceae), June 1876, G. Löfgren (S-F44045).
Economic significance – Species of the genus Dilophosphora are plant pathogens. Dilophospora alopecuri can infect rye, wheat and other cereals (Barbetti & Riley 2006). The species relies on a nematode species of the genus Anguina to spread by their conidia, adhering to the hosts and infect plants directly leading to leaf spots and distortions (Asad et al. 2007). The mycelium can enter developing seeds making them unsuitable for cultivation (Bird 1987). Dilophospora alopecuri also has potential as a biopesticide for the management of annual rye grass toxicity (Yan & Riley 2005).
Figure 1 – Dilophospora alopecuri (F44045). a Details of herbarium material. b, c Habit and appearance of ascomata on host surface. d Section of conidioma. e Conidiogenesis. f Peridium. g Conidia. h–m Conidia. Note: g–m stained in lactophenol cotton blue. Scale bars: c = 1 mm, d = 200 µm, e, g = 20 µm, f, h–m = 10 µm.
References
Asad S, Sultan A, Iftikhar S, Munir A et al. 2007– First report of Dilophospora leaf spot (twist) disease of wheat in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Botany 39 (4), 1387–1389.
Barbetti MJ, Riley IT. 2006 – Field application of Dilophospora alopecuri to manage annual ryegrass toxicity caused by Rathayibacter toxicus. Plant Disease 90, 229–232.
Bird AF, McKay AC. 1987 – Adhesion of conidia of the fungus Dilophosphora alopecuri to the cuticle of the nematode Anguina agrostes, the vector in annual ryegrass toxicity. International Journal for Parasitology 17, 1239–1247.
Yan G, Riley IT. 2005 – Variation in colonisation of Lolium rigidum by isolates of Dilophospora alopecuri, an antagonist of the causal organisms of annual ryegrass toxicity. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 45, 1157–1162.
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