37th Annual Student Research Conference
Identification of Fusarium Pathogens in Soybeans
Dustin M. Meador* and Symphony Weston
Dr. Hajeewaka Mendis, Faculty Mentor
Agriculture constantly combats plant pathogens, losing millions of dollars each year. Fungi are common plant pathogens, with the Fusarium genus being particularly problematic. Multiple species of Fusarium are plant pathogens and affect a wide variety of crops. These range from common garden varieties such as lettuce and tomato to large industrial crops like soybeans which are particularly important to the economy of the Midwest. The objective of this study is to isolate Fusarium species in Missouri and investigate if these Fusarium species cause diseases in soybeans. We have isolated three Fusarium species, F. oxysporum, F. graminearum and F. equiseti from local soybean fields and confirmed their identities using PCR and DNA sequencing. We are evaluating if these fungi species cause disease in soybeans. We are inoculating isolated Fusarium species to soybean seedlings, observing disease symptoms, re-isolating inoculated Fusarium species, and characterizing re-isolated Fusarium species to prove Koch’s postulates.
Keywords: Fusarium, Soybean, Plant Pathogens, Koch's Postulates
Topic(s):Biology
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
Session: 3-3
Location: SUB Activities Room
Time: 3:30