Boeremia tuber rot of sweet potato caused by B. exigua, a new post-harvest storage disease in China

AbstractA new post-harvest storage disease was observed on sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) in Zhejiang Province, China in November 2014. A species of Boeremia was constantly isolated from diseased tissues with typical symptoms of storage tuber rot. The isolates were identified as Boeremia exigua based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and 5.8S ribosomal DNA, the 28S large subunit ribosomal RNA (LSU) gene, the β-tubulin (TUB) gene and the actin (ACT) gene. The pathogenicity of the fungal isolates was confirmed through inoculation experiments. This is the first report of Boeremia tuber rot caused by B. exigua on sweet potato in China.