THREE NEW FUSARIUM TAXA ISOLATED FROM GRAMINEOUS PLANTS IN IRAN

In a course of survey during growing seasons of 2002-04, various fields and pastures in 23 Iranian provinces were sampled. Some 1200 isolates of Fusarium from root, crown, stem and spike of various plants belonging to the family Poaceae were recovered using Nash-Snyder selective medium and purified on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Based on morphological characteristics, 32 Fusarium species were identified using PDA, SNA, KCl+WA and CLA media. Sporulation was encouraged using nUV light and darkness of 12h at 22-25˚C. Among the species identified, Fusarium verticillioides and F. proliferatum recovered from wheat, maize, rice and sugarcane had higher frequencies of 13.5 and 10.4%, respectively. Fusarium sporotrichioides and F. buharicum isolated from wheat, barley, rice, aegilops and oat had the lowest frequencies of 0.25 and 0.42%, respectively. F. globosum, F. proliferatum var. minus and F. sublunatum var. elongatum from Poaceae are new taxa to the mycoflora of Iran.