Mating populations of Gibberella fujikuroi (Sawada) S. Ito species complex isolating from maize, sorghum and wheat in Serbia

Abstract

The status of fertility and distribution of mating populations in the G. fujikuroi species complex, isolating from maize, sorghum and wheat cultivated under various agroecological conditions of Serbia, have been studied. A total of 79 field isolates of Fusarium spp. in the section Liseola, which had been reciprocally crossed to standard testers (MAT-1 and MAT-2) from each of the four mating populations of the G. fujikuroi species complex, were selected for these studies. Twenty of 79 isolates belonged to the mating population A (G. moniliformis), 22 to the population D (G. intermedia), 17 to the population E (G. subglutinans) and 20 to the population F (G. thapsina). A mating type MAT-1 was dominant in the populations A (14 MATA-1: 6 MATA-2), D (13 MATA-1: 9 MATA-2) and E (10 MATA-1: 7 MATA-2), while MAT-2 prevailed in the population F (6 MATA-1: 14 MATA-2). The obtained results indicate that the possibility of sexual reproduction of Fusarium spp., belonging to the A, D, E and F mating populations, is not so frequent phenomenon in Serbia as in other regions world-wide. Consequently, these species will be asexually reproduced under field conditions, particularly species belonging to the F population. These are the first results on the characterisation of three (A, E and F) out of four populations of the G. fujikuroi species complex present in Serbia.