First Report of Broomrape (Orobanche crenata) Infecting Lettuce in Southern Spain

Broomrapes (Orobanche spp., Orobanchaceae) are chlorophyll-lacking, obligately parasitic flowering plants that infect roots of many dicotyledoneous species and cause severe damage to vegetable and field crops worldwide, but particularly in North Africa, southern and eastern Europe, and the Middle East. (1). Orobanche crenata is one of the most important broomrapes and mainly infects legume crops (2). In January 2006, we observed severe broomrape attacks in four commercial fields of fall-sown lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv. Iceberg) crops at Almodóvar del Río (Córdoba Province) in southern Spain. Infected lettuce plants showed severe stunting, foliar yellowing, and had loose-formed heads. Infection of lettuce plants by Orobanche sp. was confirmed by removing plants to verify the attachment of broomrapes to lettuce roots. There were one to four broomrapes per lettuce plant. Incidence of infected lettuce ranged from 10 to 20% in different areas of the fields. Morphological observations of broomrape plants identified the parasite as O. crenata. The main botanical features were as follows: plants 20 to 40 cm tall; corolla 20 to 28 mm, white, lips with lilac, divergent veins, lower lip large with suborbicular lobes, not ciliate; filaments hairy, obliquely inserted 2 to 4 mm above the base of corolla, with short glandular hairs in the upper third; anthers glabrous, 2 to 2.5 mm in length, and stigma yellow or pinkish at anthesis (2). O. crenata also was observed infecting faba bean (Vicia faba) plants in a field in close proximity to the affected lettuce fields. The complete 5.8S ribosomal DNA gene and internal transcribed spacers (ITS) 1 and 2 of O. crenata were sequenced using adventitious roots and stem tissues sampled from infected faba bean and lettuce plants (Genbank Accession Nos. DQ458908 and DQ458909) by standard protocols (3). A nucleotide BLAST search revealed that both sequences were identical and share 100% similarity with three reported ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequences from two Orobanche spp. (O. crenata and O. minor; Genbank Accession Nos. AY209267, AY209266, and AY209272). On the basis of the morphological characters described above, the parasite was O. crenata and not O. minor. O. crenata has been reported infecting many legume crops in southern Spain, including faba bean, pea, lentil, and vetch. To our knowledge, this is the first report of O. crenata infecting lettuce in Spain and elsewhere. The high incidence of O. crenata on legume crops, and the severe infections found on lettuce plants suggest that this parasitic plant may be an important constraint for fall-sown lettuce in southern Spain. References: (1) A. O. Chater and D. A. Webb. Orobanchaceae. In: Flora Europaea, T. G. Tutin et al., eds. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1972. (2) A. J. Pujadas-Salvà. Orobanchaceae L. In: Plantas Parásitas de la Península Ibérica y Baleares. J. A. López Sáez et al., eds. Mundi-Prensa, Madrid, 2002. (3) G. M. Schneeweiss et al. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 30:465, 2004.