Identification of pathogenic bacteria of pumpkin fruit vine blight
Gummy stem blight,usually seen on the stems,leaves and fruits,is one of the most serious threats to production of pumpkin(Cucurbita moschata Duch.)in Hebei with reduction of the quality and heavy losses in yield.The pathogenic organisms of the disease were still obscure because several fungal species with most similar morphology were reported to be the causative agents.A fungal pathogen NG2023021301-4 was isolated from the diseased tissue and purified by single-spore isolation.According to morphological characteristics and com-binatory phylogenetic analysis of ITS region,TUB gene sequences,the pathogen was identified as Stagonosporopsis caricae.To our knowledge,this is the first report of S.caricae causing verticillium wilt of pumpkin fruits.