Molecular Plant Pathology - Pathogen Profiles
|
Sugar-beet powdery mildew (Erysiphe betae)
Sally Francis
IACR-Broom’s Barn, Higham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 6NP, UK
|
| Summary: |
Erysiphe betae causes sugar-beet powdery mildew, a serious fungal
foliar disease resulting in sugar yield losses of up to 30%. The fungus
occurs world-wide in all regions where sugar beet is grown and it also
infects other edible beet crops, e.g. beetroots (garden beets). Unlike
other powdery mildews, E. betae has so far received relatively
little attention from pathologists and the precise mechanisms by which it
infects its host remain unclear. Sources of genetic resistance have been
identified in cultivated and wild Beta germplasm and molecular markers
developed linked to Pm, the only single major R gene described so far, and
also to QTL.
|
| Taxonomy: |
Erysiphe betae (Vañha)
Weltz.-Kingdom Fungi, Subdivision Ascomycotina, Class Pyrenomycetes, Order
Erysiphales, Family Erysiphaceae, Genus Erysiphe. |
| Identification: |
Superficial persistent mycelium;
unbranched erect conidiophores; conidia ripen singly, are hyaline, ovoid,
30-50µm x 15-20µm; cleistothecia globose, dark brown/black, 80-120µm in
diameter; mostly 4-8 asci per cleistothecium, mostly 2 or 3 spores per
ascus. |
| Host range: |
A monophagous parasite specific to Beta
species |
|
Fig. 1 Adult sugar-beet plant heavily infected with E. betae (left)
& cleistothecia and mycelium
growing on the leaf surface (right). |
|
 |
Download
the full article |
|
