First report of Alternaria dianthicola causing flower blight on carnation in China

摘要

A severe disease of carnation flowers was observed in Kunming, China in November 2009. Initial symptoms on flowers and immature flower buds were characterized by water-soaked areas. Spots with purple margins could be seen on petals of some varieties.An Alternaria sp. was isolated from 100% of symptomatic tissues sampled. The isolates showed high virulence when inoculated onto tissue culture plantlets and on healthy carnation flowers. Results of sequence analysis of 5.8S rDNA-ITS of isolates showed 99% sequence similarity with Alternaria dianthicola in GenBank. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this was the first sighting of blight of flowers and immature flower buds of carnation caused by Alternaria dianthicola in China.