Category: Pathogen Profile

fusarium in banana root

Pathogen Profile: Fusarium oxysporum

What is Fusarium oxysporum? Fusarium oxysporum is a fungus which can cause root rot, crown rot and, most commonly, wilting in a wide variety of crops such as basil, lettuce, cannabis and tomatoes (Figure 1). Wilting caused by F. oxysporum is known as Fusarium wilt and is a common culprit in field agriculture but is […]
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Figure 3. Powdery mildew on watermelon leaves, caused by Sphaerotheca fuliginea, Erysiphe cichoracearum. 

Pathogen Profile: Podosphaera xanthii

What is Podosphaera xanthii? Podosphaera xanthii is a pathogenic fungus which causes “powdery mildew” on plants, especially cucurbits [1]. The naming of this fungus is not standardized, and you may also know it as Podosphaera fusca, Sphaerotheca fuliginea or Sphaerotheca fusca [1]. In addition to P. xanthii, powdery mildew is caused by many other fungal […]
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lettuce soft rot

Pathogen Profile: Pectobacterium carotovorum 

What is Pectobacterium carotovorum? Pectobacterium carotovorum is one pathogen, of many, that causes soft rot in plants. It is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobe [1], (Figure 1). This bacteria is part of the order Enterobacterales [2] which includes other well-known bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella, to name a few. Soft rot is […]
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alfalfa hairy root Rhizobium

Pathogen Profile: Agrobacterium rhizogenes

What is Agrobacterium rhizogenes? Agrobacterium rhizogenes, also currently known as Rhizobium rhizogenes (1), is a Gram-negative, rod shaped, pathogenic bacteria (2) (Figure 1). A. rhizogenes lives in the rhizosphere, which is where the name derived (rhiza a root and gennao to make or to produce; hence, rhizogenes or root-producing).  A. rhizogenes causes hairy root disease […]
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tomatoes infected tobrfv

Pathogen Profile: Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

What is ToBRFV? Tomato brown rugose fruit virus, commonly known as ToBRFV, is a virus belonging to the genus Tobamovirus. This virus has been around since 2014, when it was first discovered in Israel [1]. Although it is too early to estimate global crop production damage, data gathered from Florida, USA showed an estimated 30% – […]
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powdery mildew

Pathogen Profile: Leveillula taurica

Powdery Mildew (Leveillula taurica) See our Resource page to see what we aim to cover in each post. What is Leveillula taurica? Leveillula taurica (also known as Oidiopsis taurica [1] in its asexual state) is a fungus which causes “powdery mildew” on plants among the Solanaceae, Alliaceae and Cucurbitaceae families [2]. However, some plants are naturally […]
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Pathogen Profile: Botrytis cinerea

Controlling Botrytis/Grey Mold The focus of this blog post is Botrytis cinerea, also known as grey mold. Worldwide, this fungus causes annual losses between $10 billion to $100 billion value in crops worldwide [3]. Pathogen Profile provides a concise summary of a plant pathogen that growers are interested in. See our Resource page to see […]
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Pathogen Profile: Pythium

Our first Pathogen Profile is on Pythium as it is the most common pathogen that our growers have expressed concern about. This does not come as a surprise because Pythium is ubiquitous and known to cause root rot in a variety of greenhouse hydroponic crops.
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