Diseases caused by Cladosporium and Alternaria spp. in forest nurseries of Belarus

Abstract

Аt the moment, due to the stressful conditions, the cases of plant diseases, caused by facultative parasites, which are often inhabiting the soils, that are rich in dead plant substrates, become more common. They are able to parasitize plants with poorly developed, broken integumentary tissues. In order to assess the structure of phytopathogenic organisms surveys were conducted in 40 forest nurseries of Belarus. During these surveys samples of infected plants were collected and a molecular-genetic identification of pathogens in planting material of coniferous species was carried out. The surveys showed, that the most common diseases of seed lings in forest nurseries of Belarus are caused by Cladosporium and Alternaria spp. 33 cases of infected by fungi of the genus Cladosporium and 28 cases by fungi of the genus Alternaria plants were revealed in the surveyed forest nurseries in Belarus in total. Other diseases, which also were often detected, are: caused by Phoma spp ., Epicoccum nigrum, Fusarium spp., Sphaeropsis sapinea. Species composition of pathogens, affected species of trees are described. Researches compiled a list of forestry enterprises were pathogens was found. Authors described the main symptoms of diseases caused by Cladosporium and Alternaria spp. and analyzed the conditions for the occurrence of epiphytoties.