Detection and characterization of soilborne fungal diseases of strawberry and their management

Many soilborne fungal pathogens of strawberry cause typical root and crown rot symptoms that can lead to plant wilting and eventual mortality.
A number of the pathogens also cause soft and hard fruit rot in the field, symptoms that allow detection of the causal agent of the disease.
Major soilborne fungal pathogens responsible for plant wilting are caused by species of Colletotrichum spp., Phytophthora spp., Pythium spp., Rhizoctonia spp., Macrophomina spp., Fusarium spp., Verticillium spp., and, more recently, Dactylonectria torresensis, Neopestalotiopsis spp. and Plectosphaerella cucumerina. Typical wilt-causing pathogens are not easy to detect according to external and internal plant symptoms.
Therefore, morphological and molecular detection are required to verify the causal agents of disease. Macrophomina phaseolina, causing crown and charcoal rot leading to plant mortality, has become one of the most devastating soilborne pathogens of strawberry worldwide over recent years, presumably associated with the phase-out of methyl bromide.
Recently, Dactylonectria torresensis, Neopestalotiopsis spp. and Plectosphaerella cucumerina have been detected while Macrophomina was identified as the major causal soilborne pathogen in Israel from 2021 to 2024. The aim of this study was to screen for the major soilborne pathogens affecting strawberry in Israel, using different media and morphological methods.

X International Strawberry Symposium

S. Freeman

fungal soilborne pathogens, plant wilt, root and crown rot

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1465.52