Exserohilum monoceras, Newly Reported on Late Watergrass in Turkey

Echinochloa species are major weeds in rice-cropping systems and are among the most noxious weeds in the world. Throughout the world, Echinochloa oryzicola Vasing, (late watergrass) is one of the most important and serious weed species of this genus. In September 2010, punctiform, purplish dark brown leaf spots were observed on leaves and sheaths of Echinochloa oryzicola in a rice field in Terme, Turkey (41°13.412′N, 36°56.248′E). Individual lesions ranged from 1 to 3 mm in diameter. Infected leaf and sheaths were surface disinfected for 1 min in 1% NaOCl, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 25°C. Colonies of pure cultures on PDA turned to dark green colonies with increasing age. Conidia were 87 to 147 (120) × 15 to 21 (19) μm (n = 50), 6 to 10 pseudoseptate, straight or slightly curved, fusiform, tapering gradually toward the base, pale-to-dark straw colored, smooth, with a small protruding plenum-type hilum. The fungus was identified as Exserohilum monoceras (Drechsler) Leonard & Sugg...