ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Agroecological Cropping Systems
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fagro.2025.1696145
Mycobiome associated with macadamia plants at different growth stages
Provisionally accepted
- The University of Queensland QAAFI Centre for Horticultural Science, Saint Lucia, Australia
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Macadamia is a tree producing high-value nuts and is indigenous to subtropical Australia. Macadamia is commercially cultivated across the globe and the macadamia industry is experiencing increased crop losses caused by fungal pathogens. Limited information is available regarding the association of fungal microbes with macadamia nursery plants. Therefore, this study aims to characterise fungal microbes associated with macadamia plants across five growth stages in leaf, stem and root during four seasons. The fungal community in macadamia nursery plants was analysed using a culture-based approach. Fungi were isolated from germinated seedlings, 3-month-old seedlings, non-grafted plants, grafted trees and 2-year-old trees in orchard. A total of 64 fungal species were identified using DNA sequencing, mainly in the phylum Ascomycota, from the different plant organs. The fungal community structure was significantly influenced by the growth stages (P = 0.001) and plant organs (P<0.001). There was no significant seasonal (P = 0.021) effect in the number of fungal genera isolated from the plants. Grafted plants and young orchards had the richest fungal composition and diversity of the 64 fungal species. Alternaria, Arcopilus, Epicoccum, Nigrospora, and Preussia were found in the leaf, Nectria in the stem, and Mortierella and Penicillium in the root organ only. Diaporthe, Neopestalotiopsis, Pestalotiopsis, Fusarium, and Phyllosticta were detected in all three organs. This study revealed that fungal community richness and diversity in macadamia plants depend on the growth stage and organ examined.
Keywords: Ascomycota, Fungal diversity, Fungal richness, Nursery, Tree nut
Received: 31 Aug 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Khan, Drenth and Akinsanmi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jahangir Khan, jahangir.khan@uqconnect.edu.au
Femi Akinsanmi, o.akinsanmi@uq.edu.au
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