Morphological Characterization of Cercospora Zeae-Maydis (Tehon and Daniels) Isolates in Southern and Southwestern Ethiopia
Journal Title: Scientia Agriculturae - Year 2016, Vol 15, Issue 2
Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops cultivated in Ethiopia that ranks second after teff in area coverage and first in total production. Grey leaf spot is one of the major constraints of maize production in maize belt area of Ethiopia where warm humid environmental condition is prevailing. In view of the expansion, seriousness, and potential destructiveness of grey leaf spot (GLS), the study was conducted with the objective of characterizing Cercospora zeae-maydis isolates collected from various maize growing areas of Southern and Southwestern Ethiopia using morphological and cultural characteristics. Purified cultures of 10 representative samples were selected from 99 isolates of Cercospora zeae-maydis by categorizing the character of colony appearance on the medium and studied for the variation of colony growth, color, shapes, growth diameter and conidial size, in length and width and the number of septa. Colony growth, color, shapes and growth diameter of every culture were recorded, conidial size (length and width) and shapes were computed from 20 conidia per each selected 10 isolates of Cercospora zeae-maydis. Ninety nine isolates were studied for morphology and most of the conidia shapes were slightly curved (70%) and straight (30%). The mean conidial size was 49.5μm in length and 9μm in width. The number of septa was found to range from 4.7 to 7.0. The study of cultural characteristics showed that variation existed among 10 representative isolates in colony growth, colony color and pigmentation. Among the two culture media tested, the highest mean colony diameter of 57.2mm was recorded on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and the lowest mean mycelial growth of 53.1mm was recorded on malt extract agar (MEA). Colony growth rate (mm/day) of 10 isolates was significantly different after growing the fungus on both PDA and MEA. All isolates had good sporulating capacity on general media (PDA) followed by MEA. Over all, the results of this study indicated wide variations among 10 isolates of Cercospora zeae-maydis based on morphological characteristics. Further investigations are recommended to get full image of the variations of Cercospora zeae-maydis in each maize growing agro-ecological areas of Ethiopia.
Authors and Affiliations
Alemu Nega, Fikre Lemessa, Gezahegn Berecha
Keywords
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- EP ID EP154243
- DOI 10.15192/PSCP.SA.2016.15.2.348355
- Views 123
- Downloads 0
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