Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. 3 (2026)

Isolation and molecular identification of a new Sordaria fimicola and Nigrospora sphaerica from the stem of Prunus armeniaca. L. tree

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11733
Submitted
10 September 2025
Published
31-07-2026 — Updated on 29-09-2026
Versions

Abstract

The sooty canker disease was studied in some orchards of the Karbala  and Babylon provinces to understand the reasons for the decline of apricot trees (Prunus armeniaca L.) in some areas of Karbala Governorate, specifically Al-Husayniyah District (Al-Qantara Al-Bayda area and Bani Hassan stream) and Awn In the province of Babylon (the first and second ponds, the Umm al-Hamam area, Bustan and Hor Hussein). The isolation results showed the presence of Sordaria fimicola with the highest frequency of 37 % followed by Nigrospora sphaerica with frequencyrates of 23 %, sequencing new S. fimicola and N. sphaerica isolates that have been registered at the Gene Bank. Pathogenicity test results showed canker on the seedlings one months after the inoculation process the length of the canker was 1.25 and 0.9 cm for both fungi sequentially and significantly different from comparison treatment. The pathogen was isolated and greenhouse inoculation and diagnosed based on their morphological, molecular and pathogenicity.

References

  1. 1. Al-Qudah A, Al-Maari K, Al-Shibli RA. Propagation of Ajami and local apricot varieties by vegetative propagation. Damascus Univ J Agric Sci. 2009;25(1):275-94.
  2. 2. Central Statistical Organization. Directorate of Agricultural Statistics/Iraq; 2019.
  3. 3. Al-Tememe ZAM, Al-Sweedi TMM, Abdullah KM, Jawid ChK, Hamzah RM. Diagnosis of causes of cankers on apricot trees Prunus armeniaca L. using PCR technique in some of the Al-Qantara, Al-Baydaa orchards in Karbala-Iraq. IOP Conf Ser Earth Environ Sci. 2019;388:012008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/388/1/012008
  4. 4. Liu HX, Tan WP, Sun GW, Zhao YT, He BL, Zhu XP. First report of gummosis disease of apricot (Prunus armeniaca) caused by Botryosphaeria obtusa in China. Plant Dis. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-14-0981-PDN
  5. 5. Bhin PS, Ralut S, Mukesh Y, Rakesh S, Chouhan VS, Dilip KA. Molecular and morphological variation in fungi and its relevance to disease development. Afr J Biotechnol. 2006;5(6):497-502.
  6. 6. Al-Tememe ZAM, Al-Hakeem AM, Baqir HA, Fadel NM. The first register and molecular diagnosis of Agrobacterium tumefaciens causing crown gall disease on Ficus sp. in Karbala and Babylon provinces, Iraq. Int J Agric Stat Sci. 2020;16(1):1845-47.
  7. 7. Tamura K, Stecher G, Peterson D, Filipski A, Kumar S. MEGA6: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 6.0. Mol Biol Evol. 2013;30(12):2725-29. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst197
  8. 8. Filer TH. Sycamore canker caused by Botryodiplodia theobromae. Phytopathology. 1968;59:76-78.
  9. 9. Zhao JH, Zhang YL, Wang LW, Wang JY, Zhang CL. Bioactive secondary metabolites from Nigrospora sp. LLGLM003, an endophytic fungus of Moringa oleifera Lam. World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2012;28:2107-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-012-1015-4
  10. 10. Ivanová H. Sordaria fimicola (Ascomycota, Sordariales) on Acer palmatum. Folia Oecol. 2015;42(1):67-71.
  11. 11. Song JJ, Pongnak W, Soytong K. Antifungal activity of endophytic fungi from palm trees against Colletotrichum coffeanum. Int J Agric Technol. 2016;12(3):527-39.
  12. 12. White TJ, Bruns T, Lee S, Taylor J. PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications. London: Academic Press; 1990.
  13. 13. Al-Sweedi TMM, Al-Tememe ZAM, Lahouf AA, Al-Amiri AT. The influence of some environmental factors on the biological performance of the eucalyptus gall wasp, Ophelimus maskelli (Ashmead), on the leaves of Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Arab J Plant Prot. 2020;38(1). https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-38.1.001009
  14. 14. Ismail WMH, Rasool AMA, Al-Tememe ZAM. Evaluation of control methods against Meloidogyne spp. on olive seedlings. IOP Conf Ser Earth Environ Sci. 2019;388(1):012009. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/388/1/012009
  15. 15. Zavash AJ, Ghosta Y. First report of Sordaria fimicola in Iran as endophytic fungus of peach trees. Rostaniha. 2014;15(1):68-70.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.