Stemphylium vesicarium causing Sansevieria trifasciata (viper’s bowstring hemp) leaf blight in Iran

Abstract

Leaves of Sansevieria trifasciata with leaf blight symptoms were collected from greenhouses of Miyandoab, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, during the summer of 2016. Leaf blight symptoms were large, elongated and gray to pale brown with brown margins. Three single spore isolates were obtained from diseased leaves and the pathogenicity of each isolate to plants was confirmed by inoculation tests based on Koch’s postulates. The pathogen was identified as Stemphylium vesicarium, based on both morphological characteristics and sequencing of the Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene. This is the first report of Stemphylium vesicarium causing leaf blight on Sansevieria trifasciata in Iran and the world.