Mycoparasitism of Acremonium strictum BCP on Botrytis cinerea, the gray mold pathogen.

Abstract

A fungal strain BCP, which parasitizes Botrytis cinerea gray mold pathogen, was isolated and identified as Acremonium strictum. BCP strain overgrew the colonies of B. cinerea and caused severe lysis of the host hyphae. Frequent penetration and hyphal growth of A. strictum BCP inside the mycelia of B. cinerea were observed under light microscopy. In addition, some morphological abnormalities such as granulation and vacuolation of the cytoplasm were observed in mycelia and spores of B. cinerea. In dual culture test, A. strictum BCP strongly inhibited the mycelial growth of several plant pathogenic fungi as well as B. cinerea. To our knowledge, this is the first report on mycoparasitism of Acremonium species on B. cinerea.