Research on the Pathogen Causing Botryosphaeria Stem Blight on Blueberry

The pathogen causing stem blight on blueberry in Liaoning,China was identified as Botryosphaeria dothidea by morphological characteristics,sporulation features,pathogenicity test,and the molecular identification.The stems showed symptoms of dieback,discoloration in trunks and death after inoculating with the pathogen,which were consistent with the symptoms of the natural infected plants.All isolates showed the colonies white at the early stage,then became gray to black,conidia were hyaline,aseptate,fusiform with several oil globules,young apple fruit is the suitable medium for sporulation.Identity of isolate LB1 was confirmed by analysis of the rDNA-ITS and β-tubulin sequences with primers ITS1-ITS4 and Bt2a-Bt2b.BLAST searches showed 99% and 100% identity with Botryosphaeria dothidea isolates from GenBank.