First report of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in Serbia

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most commonly consumed legume crops worldwide, cultivated in more than 55 countries (FAO 2017). However, in Serbia it is a novel crop grown on approximately 120 acres, but the area under this crop slightly increases each year. Fusarium wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris is one of the most economically important diseases in most chickpea-growing areas, but there has been no formal report of the Fusarium wilt of chickpea in Serbia. In June 2018, the first symptoms of Fusarium wilt were registered at Rimski Sancevi (Vojvodina Province), Serbia (N 45'19.3119, E 19'49.9339), as wilted chickpea plants grouped in patches on approximately 5% of plants in a 3-acre area. Symptoms of yellowing and necrosis of foliage appeared as late wilt in the podding stage. Roots of affected plants showed no external discoloration, but a cross-section showed dark-brown discoloration of xylem tissue. To isolate the causal agent, symptomatic plants were collected and 10 cuttings of root symptomatic tissue were surface disinfected with 2% sodium hypochlorite solution for 5 min, rinsed three times in sterile distilled water, air dried on sterilized filter paper, and plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and water agar (WA) amended with streptomycin sulfate. After 7 days incubation at 25C in the dark, isolates were preliminarily identified according to their morphological characters described by Leslie and Summerell (2006)