First Report of Fusarium proliferatum Infecting Carnation ( Dianthus caryophyllus L.) in China.

In 2011, a wilt disease has been detected on carnation ( Dianthus caryophyllus L.) cultivar ' Light Pink Barbara' in Kunming, Yunnan, China. A Fusarium sp. was consistently recovered from pieces of symptomatic tissues on Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar ( PDA). On the basis of morphological characteristics and molecular identification by DNA sequencing of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (r DNA ITS) and partial translation elongation factor-1α ( TEF) gene region, following their phylogenetic trees construction, the putative causal agent was identified as Fusarium proliferatum ( Matsushima) Nirenberg, and its pathogenicity was finally confirmed by Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a wilt disease caused by F. proliferatum on carnation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]