The First Report of Orobanche laxissima Parasitizing Pomegranate (Punica granatum) in Georgia

Orobanche laxissima Uhlich & Rätzel (Orobanchaceae) is a polyphagous root parasitic plant distributed in the Caucasus Mountains and Transcaucasia; especially Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, N.E. Turkey (Piwowarczyk et al. 2019). It infects many wild or sometimes cultivated trees and shrubs, such as Betulaceae, Oleaceae, Fagaceae, Aceraceae, Cornaceae, usually Fraxinus L., Fagus L., Carpinus L. (Piwowarczyk et al. 2019, 2020). Punica granatum L. (Lythraceae), commonly known as pomegranate, is native to the Caucasus, the Himalayas in North Pakistan and Northern India, and is widely cultivated, e.g. in USA and throughout the Mediterranean. Pomegranate is one of the first domesticated fruits and have been used in folk medicine or as a food for centuries. Fruit, seed, leaves, flower, root, or barks extracts have extensive medicinal properties (Shaygannia et al. 2015). Field surveys conducted in south-eastern Georgia in May 2019 revealed extensive infestations of O. laxissima on the roots of P. granatum in one locality in Kakheti Province, near Sighnaghi (41°37,4 N, 45°56,3 E, 480 m elevation), in roadside or hills scrub and cultivated areas of pomegranate. The infection was confirmed by verifying the attachment of the Orobanche to the Punica root. The population of the parasite consisted of at least a ca. thousand shoots, sometimes in one clump was ca. 100 individuals. A single plant of pomegranate was parasitized by few to c.a. a hundred of broomrape plants, and 10 to 20% of the ca. 1 ha location was infested. The main botanical features of the O. laxissima are: i) stem simple, (10-)25-40(-100) cm high, with haustoria; ii) inflorescence usually long to short cylindrical or lax, usually many-flowered; iii) calyx-segments entire or bidentate, rarely with 4 teeth; iv) corolla (16-)22-24(-31) mm long, tubular-bell-shaped; purple, pink, rarely dirty yellow, light brown; v) stigma purple, orange, or yellow (Piwowarczyk et al. 2019, 2020). For molecular analysis, total genomic DNA was extracted from the sample and the plastid gene rbcL (rubisco large subunit) was sequenced and amplified as described in Piwowarczyk et al. (2015). The sequence (1231 bp) was deposited in GenBank (MN384886). BLAST search found that it was most similar to (Query Cover 100%, Per Ident. 100%) O. laxissima (KR260928). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a O. laxissima parasitizing P. granatum. O. laxissima appearing in large numbers on singles pomegranate shrubs can weaken the plants, and reduce flowering and fruiting. In the Caucasus region, O. laxissima was observed in mesophilic forests and shrubs, but our report suggests the possibility of a potential spread to neighboring cultivated areas, especially fruit trees and shrubs. Until now, only one report of pathogenic plants was documented for P. granatum, included Phelipanche aegyptiaca (Pers.) Pomel and O. crenata Forssk. in Israel (Dor et al. 2014).

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - year:2020

Enthalten in:

Plant disease - (2020) vom: 29. Dez.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Piwowarczyk, Renata [VerfasserIn]
Ruraż, Karolina [VerfasserIn]
Góralski, Grzegorz [VerfasserIn]
Kwolek, Dagmara [VerfasserIn]
Denysenko-Bennett, Magdalena [VerfasserIn]
Staszecka-Moskal, Natalia [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Causal Agent
Crop Type
Field crops
Fruit
Journal Article
Other
Parasitic plants
Subject Areas
Tree fruits
Yield loss and economic impacts

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 22.02.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status Publisher

doi:

10.1094/PDIS-10-20-2255-PDN

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM319374378