Paper · 2025 · Plant Disease

First Report of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Causing Stem Rot Disease in Cow Cockle ( Vaccaria hispanica ) in Türkiye

Ahmet Izmirli; Esin Ari; Adem Kaba; et al.

9
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9
verbatim quotes
0
citations
2
research areas
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Open access

Abstract

Vaccaria hispanica (Mill.) Rauschert, commonly known as cow cockle, has recently gained attention as a valuable industrial and medicinal plant. It is rich in bioactive compounds, including 1 µm starch grains, triterpenoid saponins, and various phytochemicals (Kernan and Ferrie 2006, Ari et al. 2022). In December 2023, symptoms of wilt and white rot were observed on V. hispanica plants at Akdeniz University Research Greenhouses in Antalya, Türkiye (36°53′53″N, 30°38′15″E; approximately 1000 m2). Approximately 30% of the plant population exhibited severe effects or complete desiccation. Early symptoms included white, cottony fungal growth on stems. As the disease progressed, lateral branches dried and black, irregular sclerotia formed on split stems. In advanced cases, complete plant death occurred. To isolate the pathogen, root and stem tissues (1 cm2) from three infected plants were surface-sterilized and cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Plates were incubated in the dark at 25°C. White, cottony mycelium developed initially, followed by the formation of black sclerotia around the plate edges within 15 days. Sclerotia ranged in size from 1.02–3.91 × 1.10–7.37 mm (mean: 2.80 × 3.69 mm; n = 75). Based on morphological characteristics, the fungus was identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum according to Sharan and Mehta (2008). For the pathogenicity test, mycelial plugs (~0.5 cm2) were applied to five 45-day-old seedlings grown in pots. Razor wounds were made on stems (1–2 cm above soil), and mycelial plugs were applied using moistened cotton and sealed with parafilm. In control plants, sterile PDA medium was placed on the injured tissues with moistened cotton and then wrapped with parafilm. Only inoculated plants developed disease symptoms and sclerotia within 15 days. The fungus was then re-isolated from the stems of these diseased plants. For further confirmation of the species, genomic DNA was extracted from the re-isolated mycelia using the CTAB method (Doyle and Doyle 1990). For molecular identification, β-tubulin, EF1α, 28S rRNA, and ITS regions were amplified using the primers Bt2a/Bt2b (Glass and Donaldson 1995), EF1-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), LR0R/LR05 (Vilgalys and Hester 1990), and ITS1/ITS4–ITS1/ITS5 (White et al. 1990), respectively. The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers β-tubulin: PX216760, EF1α: PX216759, 28S rRNA: PX206243, and ITS: PQ047774. The sequenced parts of the genes were 304, 439, 674 and 406 bp and showed 100% (EF1α), 99,76% (β-tubulin), 99, 13% (28S rRNA) and 95% (ITS) nucleotide identity with the corresponding sequences (AF341647.1, KF545201.1, AY187067.1 and MG824957.1). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report worldwide of stem rot disease caused by S. sclerotiorum on V. hispanica, posing a significant phytopathological threat to its future commercial cultivation as a crop with high medicinal and industrial potential.

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Claims 9

Observationobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Wilt and white rot occurred on cow cockle plants in Antalya.

Taxon
V. hispanicaGypsophila vaccariae0
Outcome
symptoms of wilt and white rote0
Setting
Antalya, Türkiyee0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Gypsophila vaccaria
Gypsophila vaccaria · Taxon(c) Josep Gesti, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“symptoms of wilt and white rot were observed on V. hispanica plants at Akdeniz University Research Greenhouses in Antalya, Türkiye”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 320–450 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Approximately 30% of cow cockle plants had severe effects or desiccation.

Outcome
severe effects or complete desiccatione0
Value
Approximately 30%e0

Not reportedTaxon

Verbatim

e0

“Approximately 30% of the plant population exhibited severe effects or complete desiccation.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 500–591 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Disease progression included fungal stem growth, drying branches, sclerotia, and sometimes plant death.

Organ / stage
stemse0
Outcome
lateral branches dried and black, irregular sclerotia formed on split stemse0

Not reportedTaxon

Verbatim

e0

“Early symptoms included white, cottony fungal growth on stems. As the disease progressed, lateral branches dried and black, irregular sclerotia formed on split stems. In advanced cases, complete plant death occurred.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 592–808 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

The isolated fungus was identified morphologically as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Interactor
Sclerotinia sclerotiorumSclerotinia sclerotiorume0pathogen
Outcome
identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorume0

Not reportedTaxon

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum · InteractorRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Based on morphological characteristics, the fungus was identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum according to Sharan and Mehta (2008).”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1349 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Only inoculated cow cockle plants developed disease symptoms and sclerotia within 15 days.

Taxon
plantsViridiplantaee0
Treatment
inoculatede0
Outcome
disease symptoms and sclerotiae0
Value
15 dayse0

Not reportedComparatorDirection

Verbatim

e0

“Only inoculated plants developed disease symptoms and sclerotia within 15 days.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1721–1800 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

The fungus was reisolated from diseased stems.

Taxon
plantsViridiplantaee0
Organ / stage
stemse0
Outcome
fungus was then re-isolatede0

Verbatim

e0

“The fungus was then re-isolated from the stems of these diseased plants.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1801–1873 · show in text ↑
Method / resourceobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Four sequenced loci were deposited in GenBank.

Outcome
sequences were deposited in GenBanke0
Value
PX216760e0

Not reportedTaxon

Verbatim

e0

“The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers β-tubulin: PX216760, EF1α: PX216759, 28S rRNA: PX206243, and ITS: PQ047774.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 2300–2453 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

The sequenced fungal loci showed 95–100% identity to corresponding sequences.

Outcome
nucleotide identitye0
Value
100%e0

Not reportedTaxonInteractor

Verbatim

e0

“showed 100% (EF1α), 99,76% (β-tubulin), 99, 13% (28S rRNA) and 95% (ITS) nucleotide identity with the corresponding sequences”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 2521–2646 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

The authors report the first worldwide stem rot caused by S. sclerotiorum on V. hispanica.

Taxon
V. hispanicaGypsophila vaccariae0
Interactor
S. sclerotiorumSclerotinia sclerotiorume0pathogen
Outcome
stem rot diseasee0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Gypsophila vaccaria
Gypsophila vaccaria · Taxon(c) Josep Gesti, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum · InteractorRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“this is the first report worldwide of stem rot disease caused by S. sclerotiorum on V. hispanica”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 2730–2826 · show in text ↑

inoculation · disease · Viridiplantae (plants)Positive and negative results

31 papers: 11 positive, 20 negative or no effect

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