First Report of Colletotrichum truncatum on Alfalfa in Turkey

During the summer of 1997 and 1998, a pathogen identified as Colletotrichum truncatum (Schwein.) Andrus & W.D. Moore was isolated from lesions on stems of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) plants in Erzurum, Turkey. Typical symptoms on stems of mature plants were large, sunken, irregularly shaped black lesions. Twenty-eight cultures of C. truncatum were isolated from stem lesions. Acervuli containing spores and dark setae were observed within lesions. Conidia were hyaline, one-celled, falcate to nearly straight with a prominent clear area in the center of highly granular cytoplasm, and measured 16.3 to 20.6 × 3.1 to 4.5 μm. These morphological characteristics were consistent with the description of C. truncatum (1). The pathogenicity of two isolates was determined on alfalfa cv. Bilensoy. Alfalfa seedlings (6-week-old) were inoculated with a conidial suspension of the fungus (1.4 × 10⁷ conidia per ml), incubated in a moist chamber for 3 days, and subsequently transferred to growth chambers maintained at 25°C with a 12-h photoperiod. Ten plants were inoculated with each isolate. Symptoms first appeared on stems 12 days after inoculation. Sunken, irregularly shaped black lesions occasionally girdled stems of plants inoculated with C. truncatum. Symptoms did not appear on stems of control plants inoculated with sterile distilled water. C. truncatum was reisolated from symptomatic tissue. This is the first report of C. truncatum on alfalfa from Turkey. Reference: (1) B. C. Sutton. 1992. Pages 1-27 in: Colletotrichum Biology, Pathology and Control. J. A. Bailey and M. J. Jeger, eds. CAB International, Wallingford, U.K.