Cordia americana
(L.) Gottschling & J. S. Mill. (guajuvira) is a forest species widely distributed in
Brazil and represents environmental and economic importance due to the quality of its timber and use in
reforestation. In order to evaluate the pathogenicity of
Fusarium
sp. associated with seeds, characterizing
the isolates morphologically and molecularly in order to identify them on the species level, was obtained
four fungal isolates that were inoculated in seeds to demonstrate their pathogenicity. The morphological
characterization was performed using an identification key for the genus
Fusarium and, for the molecular
identification, genomic regions Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) were sequenced with its elongation
factor 1 alpha (TEF1-α). The results of the molecular identification agreed with the morphological
characterization and allowed to identify the species
Fusarium acuminatum
and
Fusarium verticillioides, both being pathogenic to
Cordia americana, causing damping-off in pre and post emergence, and rotting of
roots and necrosis of hypocotyl.