Isolation and Identification of Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines from Soil on Modified Nash and Snyder's Medium

Modified Nash and Snyder's medium (MNSM) has been used to study soil populations of the fungus Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines, the causal agent of sudden death syndrome (SDS) of soybean. However, no studies have been conducted to confirm the accuracy of this technique in enumerating the SDS pathogen. To determine what portion of the colonies enumerated on MNSM are the SDS pathogen, 282 isolates resembling F. solani f. sp. glycines were collected from soil of two fields with a history of SDS in Arkansas using a soil dilution method with MNSM. The colony morphology of these isolates was compared on MNSM and on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Of these isolates, 112 were tested for pathogenicity on soybean in the greenhouse. In addition to fungi that produced colonies typical of F. solani f. sp. glycines on MNSM, 5 isolates each of four common colony types on MNSM were collected from each field for a total of 40 isolates. These isolates were compared to F. solani f. sp. glycines for colony morphology on PDA and for pathogenicity. Isolates that had colonies on MNSM that resembled F. solani f. sp. glycines had colony morphologies on PDA similar to this pathogen and produced SDS-like foliar symptoms in greenhouse inoculations of soybean. There was a significant quadratic relationship between foliar symptom severity and plant fresh weight. None of the other isolates tested resembled F. solani f. sp. glycines on either MNSM or PDA or produced SDS-foliar symptoms in greenhouse inoculations. These non-SDS isolates were F. solani, F. merismoides, a Pythium sp., and a Paecilomyces sp. All of these isolates produced some root rot, but significantly less than the F. solani f. sp. glycines reference isolate. The results of this study established that soil populations of F. solani f. sp. glycines can be accurately enumerated using MNSM. It should be noted that, on both MNSM and PDA, F. solani f. sp. glycines can resemble some isolates of F. solani f. sp. phaseoli, so pathogenicity tests of random isolates may be required to confirm the forma specialis especially in fields that have a history of both Glycines max and Phaseolus vulgaris.