Fungi occurring on waterhyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach) in Niger River in Mali and their evaluation as mycoherbicides

Abstract

We recovered 116 fungal isolates in 7 genera from water hyacinth plants having pronounced blight symptoms collected in mali. isolation frequency of the genera was Curvularia (60.32%), Fusarium (42.92%), Alternaria (11.6%), Coniothyrium (11.6%), Phoma (3.48%), Stemphylium (3.48%), and Cadophora (1.16%). on the basis of in vivo pathogenicity tests in which the diseased leaf area percentage and disease severity were visually estimated using a disease severity index, three isolates, Fusarium sp. mln799, Cadophora sp. mln715, and Alternaria sp. mlb684 caused severe disease. these were later identified as sacchari summerell & J.F. Leslie, Cadophora malorum (Kidd & Beaumont) W. grams, and Alternaria sp. respectively. this is the first report to highlight C. malorum as a candidate biocontrol agent against waterhyacinth. neither C. malorum mln715 nor Alternaria sp. mlb684 in host specificity tests showed any pathogenicity toward 17 crop plants of economic importance in mali.