Tarbiat Modares University Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 1680-7073 28 4 2026 07 01 Interactions of Maize-Pathogenic Fusarium Species with Macrophomina phaseolina Shed Light on Host Preference in Crop Rotation 963 979 24102 EN Ayşe Görmez Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Türkiye. Semiha Yüceer Biological Control Research Institute, Adana, Türkiye. Talap Talapov Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Türkiye. Canan Can Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Türkiye. Journal Article 2025 09 16 Survey studies during the 2021–2022 maize growing season in Türkiye’s Central and Southeastern Anatolia Regions identified Fusarium species in seven provinces (Eskişehir, Konya, Karaman, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, and Diyarbakır). Pathogenicity tests revealed 31 pathogenic isolates among 115 Fusarium spp., with three isolates causing the highest disease severity at a 50% infection rate. These isolates showed moderate pathogenicity in stems and weak pathogenicity in roots. For species identification, EF-1alpha and RPB2 regions of 28 isolates were amplified, and sequences were compared to the NCBI database via BLAST analysis. Results indicated Fusarium proliferatum, F. subglutinans, and F. verticillioides as the dominant species. Cross-pathogenicity tests with F. proliferatum, F. subglutinans, F. verticillioides, and Macrophomina phaseolina, alone and in combinations, were performed on barley, wheat, bean, corn, garlic, sorghum, and oat genotypes. All tested plants showed varying disease severity, with garlic being the most affected. M. phaseolina exhibited the least pathogenicity, while its combination with F. verticillioides caused the greatest damage. These findings are particularly significant considering the pathogens' disease impacts and mycotoxin production capacities.

https://jast.modares.ac.ir/article_24102_961fbfb28115cd7e4197ae1441c67a6f.pdf