Fusarium proliferatum causing dry rot of stored garlic in Slovakia

Symptoms of dry clove rot of Allium sativum produced in Slovakia were noticed during storage in 2019. In 2020, garlic bulbs of eight cultivars were analysed and fungal isolates were obtained. Morphological and molecular identification confirmed the isolation of Fusarium proliferatum from all cultivars. The mean proportion of symptomatic cloves in evaluated samples reached 78.68%, and the mean area of clove surface damaged by the disease ranged from 5.97% to 14.83% 5 weeks after the harvest. The pathogenicity of the selected F. proliferatum isolate was verified by inoculation of garlic cloves in laboratory bioassays. This is the first report of F. proliferatum causing dry rot of garlic bulbs in Slovakia.