Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

In the autumn of 2012 unusual symptoms on globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) cultivar A 106 were observed in commercial fields in Aydın province (Şahnalı) in the Aegean Region of Turkey. Diseased plants showed stem rot and pith necrosis symptoms at the stem base and collapsed soon after first symptoms appeared. The disease prevalence was estimated to approach 10-15% in different fields, leading to removal and destruction of many plants by the growers. Representative strains isolated from infected plants were identified on the basis of morphological, biochemical, sequencing and pathogenicity tests as Pectobacterium carotovorum. The identification was further confirmed by sequencing the pel housekeeping gene of one representative isolate (GenBank accession No. KT828557), which was found to have 100% nucleotide identity with strain HNXDT002 (GenBank accession No. JF721960.1) of P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, isolated previously from artichoke plants with stem rot symptoms in China. To our knowledge this is the first report on bacterial stem rot of artichoke in Turkey.