Abstract
Plant diseases caused by Fusarium spp. will results in yield losses and are becoming more significant
in Iran. In this study, infected plant samples suspected to Fusarium infection, plant debris and
rhizosphere soil were collected from the most important crops that is, wheat, rice, corn, barley, potato,
cucurbits from different provinces in Iran during 2002 to 2009. A total of 2,500 Fusarium isolates were
obtained and classified into 30 species based on morphological characters. Fusarium sporotrichioides,
F. chlamydosporum, F. graminearum and F. pseudograminearum were obtained only from tissue
samples whereas F. scirpi, F. longipes and F. eumartii were from soils. Among the isolates, 41% were
recovered from plant tissue, 36% from soil and 23% from plant debris samples. In cereals tissues, F.
graminearum, F. pseudograminearum, F. sambucinum, F. culmorum, F. crookwellense, Fusarium
proliferatum, F. verticillioides, F. fujikuroi and F. nygamai were predominant species. Fusarium spp.
recovered from potato tissues were F. sambucinum, F. culmorum, F. crookwellense, F. trichothecioides,
F. proliferatum, F. verticillioides, F. subglutinans and F. anthophilum whereas F. solani and F.
oxysporum were predominant in cucurbits, sorghum, tomato, sugar beet and bean. To our knowledge
this is the first comprehensive report on the identification of large number of Fusarium spp. in different
crops from Iran.
Key words: Fusarium spp., occurrence, distribution, agricultural crops, Iran.
