Fusarium Crown Rot

Fusarium oxysporum

high risk
fungus

Overview

Soil-borne fungal pathogen with many strains each specializing on different host plants. Causes damping-off, crown rot, and vascular wilt.

Seedling damping-off and death. Orange-brown discoloration inside stems at crown. Wilting and yellowing of foliage. Pink-white mycelium at plant base.

Prevention Strategies

  • •Use pathogen-free seed and planting material
  • •Crop rotation
  • •Improve drainage
  • •Solarization
  • •Resistant varieties and grafted plants

Control Methods

  • •Soil solarization
  • •Biofungicides (Trichoderma spp.)
  • •Grafted tomatoes on resistant rootstock
  • •Carbendazim fungicide seed treatment
  • •No cure once established

Interesting Facts

  • •Has 150+ host-specific strains (forma specialis) each attacking different plant families
  • •Panama disease of banana (F. oxysporum cubense) nearly destroyed the world's banana industry in the 1950s
  • •A new strain (Tropical Race 4) is currently threatening Cavendish bananas worldwide
  • •Trichoderma fungi are natural antagonists and used as biocontrol agents