First Report of Fusarium andiyazi Associated with Rice Bakanae in Italy

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is cultivated on approximately 230,000 ha in northern Italy. Since 2001, increasing economical losses presumably caused by Fusarium fujikuroi Nirenberg (Gibberella fujikuroi mating population C), an exotic fungus known as the etiological agent of Bakanae disease, have been reported in Italy. The spread of this disease is primarily seedborne. In 2009, during an annual survey of Italian rice seed, 69 samples were tested for the presence of strains belonging to the G. fujikuroi species complex. Four hundred seeds per sample were surface sterilized and then placed in 90-mm Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar and incubated for 7 days at 21°C. Thirty two putative G. fujikuroi strains were single-spore purified and identified on the basis of their morphological features on Spezieller Nahrstoffarmer agar plates with a piece of sterile filter paper. Strains were characterized at species level by morphological observations (1,2) and translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF) gene sequen...