ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1609944
Pathogen Identification and Biological Fungicides Screening of Plumbago auriculata Blight from China
Provisionally accepted
Ming LiuTiantian GuoHao YanYue YuanZhien XiaoYuxin Liu
Shaotian ZhangFengqing LyuShan Jing
Fuqiang Yin*- Chongqing Three Gorges University, Wanzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Plumbago auriculata is an important ornamental horticultural plant with high ornamental value. P. auriculata blight was first detected in 2023 in Wanzhou District, Chongqing City, China. This disease seriously reduces the ornamental value of P. auriculata. The disease was characterized by the yellowing and drying up of stems and leaves in the early stage and the drying up and death of the entire aboveground part of plants in the later stage. In order to identify the pathogenic fungus of P. auriculata blight in Wanzhou district of Chongqing and screen out effective biological fungicides to control the disease, the pathogen was isolated and cultured by tissue isolation method. The pathogen was identified by morphology combined with multigene combined analysis. Cross-pathogenicity experiments were conducted on two other horticultural plants using the pathogen. Biological fungicides were screened by indoor toxicity tests. Combined with the potted plant prevention effect experiment, the control efficacy of the biological fungicide was evaluated. The results showed that isolates L9 and L11 colonies have white cottony flocculent aerial mycelium. The macroconidia are falcate, prominently cell papillate to hooked. A lot of chlamydia spores were observed on PDA. L9 and L11 were identified by phylogenetic analysis (internal transcribed spacers, RNA polymerase II second largest subunit, translation elongation factor 1 alpha and calmodulin) and clustered together with Fusarium ipomoeae in the same single clade. This is the first report of F. ipomoeae causing blight on P. auriculata in China. F. ipomoeae was pathogenic to Prunus serrulata and Heptapleurum arboricola. The results of the indoor toxicity test showed that the inhibitory effect of 0.4% osthole SL on F. ipomoeae was significant, with an EC50 value of 1.089 μg/mL. 0.4% osthole SL has a good prevention and control effect on P. auriculata blight, with a control efficacy of 88%. Osthole can be used for the prevention and control of P. auriculata blight. The results provided the basis for the recognition and green control of P. auriculata blight caused by F. ipomoeae.
Keywords: Plumbago auriculata, Fusarium ipomoeae, blight, pathogen, Multigene phylogeny, Biological Fungicides Screening, control efficacy
Received: 11 Apr 2025; Accepted: 19 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Guo, Yan, Yuan, Xiao, Liu, Zhang, Lyu, Jing and Yin. 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: Fuqiang Yin, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Wanzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.