Morphological and molecular characterization of seed-borne fungi in native Fennel populations

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is one of the most important and economical medicinal plants. Seed-borne fungi as one of the most important factors that threatens the health of seeds, and lead to reduce germination and vigor indices and finally reduce production. The aim of this study was to identify of seed-borne fungi of fennel from some fennel fields in Iran. In order to identify of seed-borne fungi fennel from fields of Golestan (Aliabad county), Zanjan (Khodabandeh county), Kurdistan (Marivan county) and Hamedan (Nahavand county) provinces were sampled according to the International Rules for Seed Testing (ISTA). For isolation of fungi, fennel seeds were washed in tap water surface disinfested in ۱% sodium hypochlorite and were placed on general and specific culture media with alternating ۱۲ hours light and ۱۲ hours darkness at ۲۵°C. Purification of fungal colonies was performed using single spore and hyphal tip methods on ۲% water agar medium. A total of ۳۳ isolates were identified based on morphological and molecular characteristics (ITS-rDNA regions were amplified by ITS۱ and ITS۴ primers and a partial sequence of the β-tubulin gene, different fungal taxa including Alternaria alternate and Fusarium oxysporum. The fennel seeds collected from Aliabad field was more infected with fungi than the other fields sampled. The results of this study can be used to complete the basic information for identifying of seed-borne fungi of fennel and help to writing the national seed health standard. This is the first report on identify the seed-borne fungi of Iranian native fennel seed populations.

کلیدواژه ها:

Alternaria ، Morphological ، Seed health ، Fusarium ، Molecular