Aggressiveness of Phomopsis longicolla and Other Phomopsis spp. on Soybean

Phomopsis seed decay of soybean is a major cause of poor-quality soybean seed. The disease is caused primarily by the fungal pathogen Phomopsis longicolla. Aggressiveness of isolates of P. longicolla from soybean and other Phomopsis spp. from other hosts were compared by inoculating 2-week-old soybean plants of cv. Williams 82. There were significant (P ≤ 0.0001) differences among isolates based on stem length and stem lesion length. The P. longicolla soybean isolate PL16, from Mississippi, caused the shortest stem length while the non-soybean isolate P9, from Illinois, caused the greatest stem lesion length. The type isolate of P. longicolla, PL31 (Fau 600), was one of the 3 most aggressive isolates among all 48 isolates tested. The velvetleaf isolate P9 was the most aggressive among 13 isolates from non-soybean hosts. This study provided the first evaluation of aggressiveness of P. longicolla isolates from different geographic origins and the first demonstration that Phomopsis spp. isolated from cantaloupe, eggplant, and watermelon infected soybean. Knowledge about the variability of the pathogen is important for selecting isolates for breeding soybean lines with broad-based resistance to Phomopsis seed decay.