Analysis of contamination of annual and perennial Leguminosae grasses with fungi using quantitative PCR
Keywords:
legumes, fungi, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Fusarium, DNA, quantitative PCRAbstract
Significant components of feed are Leguminosae plants, which are often infected with phytopathogenic fungi. The method of quantitative PCR was used for analysis of the content of DNA of Alternaria, Cladosporium, and Fusarium fungi in 77 samples of 13 legume species harvested in 2015 in 5 regions of the European part of Russia. It has been established that the species of the legumes, the structure of their stems, the place and month of collection of samples effected on the quantity of fungal DNA in plants significantly. The samples Melilotus spp. accumulated the highest amounts of Alternaria DNA in comparison with other legumes. The samples of Lathyrus spp. and Trifolium spp. were the most contaminated with Cladosporium DNA. The highest amounts of Tri-Fusarium DNA were found in plants of Lathyrus spp. The prolongation of vegetation time of plants led to the increasing of contamination of the plants with Tri-Fusarium and Cladosporium fungi. The content of Alternaria DNA did not depend on the month of collection. The plants with the creeping stems contained on average 3 times more Cladosporium DNA than the plants with the erect stems. Perennial legumes contained an average of 11 times more Tri-Fusarium DNA, in compare with annual plants. The amount of Tri-Fusarium DNA in non-melliferous plants was 12 times higher than in melliferous grasses. The strong relationship between the contents of Alternaria DNA and Cladosporium DNA was revealed in all samples of legumes (r= +0.31, p <0.05).