Plant Protection, 04 (01) 2020. 29-34 DOI: 10.33804/pp.004.01.3207 29 Available Online at EScience Press Plant Protection ISSN: 2617-1287 (Online), 2617-1279 (Print) http://esciencepress.net/journals/PP FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH ROOT AND CROWN ROT OF WHEAT IN THE KERMAN PROVINCE OF IRAN Maryam Rouzbeh, Gholam Reza Baradaran Plant Protection Research Department, Kerman Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Kerman, Iran. A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history Received: 31 st January, 2020 Revised: 19 th March, 2020 Accepted: 22 nd March, 2020 In the growing season of 2016-17, the fungal agents associated with crown and root rot of wheat in the Kerman province of Iran were identified. For this purpose, different fields were randomly selected for sampling and percentages of disease were estimated. Infected parts of root and crown were surface sterilized and cultured on Potato Dextrose Agar medium. A total of 260 isolates were obtained and identified on the basis of macroscopic and microscopic characters and valid keys. Of the total isolates, 212 belonged to Fusarium, 28 to Bipolaris and 20 isolates belonged to Drechslera species. Fungal species included F. oxysporum (96 isolates), F. nivale (20 isolates), F. poae (18 isolates), F. anthophilum (9 isolates), F. subglutinans (22 isolates), F. solani (32 isolates), F. culmorum (11 isolate), F. proliferatum (2 isolate), F. chlamydosporum (2 isolates), B. kusanoi (11 isolates), B. australiensis (17 isolates) and D. tetrarrhene (20 isolates). The pathogenicity test was conducted using greenhouse root dip technique. The pathogenicity confirmed five Fusarium species, two Bipolaris and one Drechslera species associated with wheat root and crown rot in Kerman province of Iran. It is concluded that wheat root and crown rot is fairly distributed in the Kerman province and showed virulence of varying degrees demanding strict control measures to minimize losses. Keywords Wheat root rot Fusarium spp. Pathogenicity Bipolaris spp. Drechslera spp. Corresponding Author: Maryam Rouzbeh Email: maryam.rouzbeh@gmail.com © 2020 EScience Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the most important crop in the world, particularly in Iran. Wheat crown and root rot is one of the most common diseases in wheat growing regions around the world which has led to a decline in annual yields (Mohammadipour and Ilkhechi, 2004). The term common crown and root rot is often used to refer to a group of complex disease that is characterized by blighting, stunting and death of seedling, stunting of mature plants, necrotic lesions on seminal and crown roots, sub-crown internodes, crown and stem tissue (Sallans, 1965). Common root and crown rot is caused by several soil borne pathogens. Species of Bipolaris and Drechslera have roles for inducing foot and root decays. Bipolaris sorokiniana is distributed worldwide in all of the major cereal growing regions. Within a region, it is rare to find a field that does not harbor the pathogen at some level of inoculum (Mathre et al., 2003). Two species of Bipolaris were identified as B. sorokiniana and B. australiensis. The first