Diversity of soil microorganisms in mulberry root rot disease fields and detection of the disease pathogen by specific primer

Abstract

The diversity of soil microorganisms in mulberry root rot disease infesting fields was investigated from The Queen Sirikit Sericulture Center at Kanchanaburi, Khon Kaen, Sisaket and Ubon Ratchathani provinces. Isolation of the soil microorganisms was performed on four media as nutrient agar (NA), potato dextrose agar (PDA), rose bengal agar (RBG) and modified selective fusarium agar (SFA). Twenty-four bacterial isolates were arisen from NA including gram positive endospore forming rod, gram negative rod, gram positive cocci and Actinomycetes. Similarly, 75 isolates of fungi were gained from PDA, RBG and SFA and could be defined to be Aspergillus sp., Chaetomium sp., Curvularia sp., Fusarium sp., Penicillium sp., Phytophthora sp. and Rhizopus sp. by their morphological characteristics. Verification of the causal pathogen of mulberry root rot disease could be accomplished using specific primers for F. solani in which a DNA band at approximately 300 bp was revealed.