Identification of Spinach Damping-off Pathogens in Inner Mongolia Region
The samples of damping-off spinach seedlings were collected from the greenhouses in Tongliao,Baotou and Bayannur cities of Inner Mongolia.Pathogens were identified by morphological and molecular analysis,and pathogenicity tests of representative isolate of each species was carried out by seedlings infestation method.The result indicated that a total of 60 Pythium isolates were obtained from 82 plant samples.These isolates were identified as P.deliense,P.aphanidermatum and P.ultimum var.ultimum.Pathogenicity tests have proved that the Pythium species are pathogenic,causing damping-off,but with different disease severity.Among them P.deliense were the most pathogenic (infection rate 85.7%),the next was P.aphanidermatum (infection rate 42.9%),and the lowest was P.ultimum var.ultimum (infection rate 28.6%).