Comparative Analysis among Pathogenic Fungal Species that Cause Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus Hort.) Corm Rot in Mexico

an unknown disease causing wilting and death of gladiolus plants was studied in 2004, in tlacotepec de josé manzo, in the municipality of san salvador el verde, located in the region of san martín texmelucan, puebla, mexico. the objective was to identify and characterize by its-pcr the plant pathogen(s) that cause this disease and to comparatively analyze the fungal species involved. five species of fungi were identified from healthy and symptomatic corms taken in the field and from storage, and also from damaged basal stem and neck tissues of field plants, these were: fusarium oxysporum f. gladioli, f. solani, penicillium sp.; and two previously reported acremonium strictum and gliocladium roseum which were unknown worldwide. all species were pathogenic, they grouped into three categories for their aggressiveness and differed in cultural characters. the molecular analyses corroborated the species identification and their sequences were deposited in the ncbi genbank. this was the first formal study of this kind in mexico.