New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract

Characterisation of Thozetella tocklaiensis isolated from the roots of three grass species in Waikato pastures, New Zealand

N. W. WAIPARA
M. E. DI MENNA

New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture Research Institute
Private Bag 3123
Hamilton, New Zealand

A. L. J. COLE

Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand

R. A. SKIPP

New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture Research Institute
Private Bag 11008
Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract  In a mycological survey of Waikato pastures, Thozetella tocklaiensis was isolated from the roots of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne), sweet vernal (Anthoxanthum odoratum), and browntop (Agrostis capillaris). Initially, isolates grew as sterile dematiaceous mycelium in culture but when grown on nutrient poor media under near-UV light produced conidia in sporodochia characteristic of Thozetella tocklaiensis. Electron microscopy revealed that conidiophores within each sporodochium were surrounded by excipular hyphae which produced sterile microawns. The fungus produced sporodochia on roots of grass and clover seedlings and hyphae penetrated epidermal and cortical root tissue of seedlings without causing visible disease symptoms. This fungus has not previously been reported in New Zealand and is unrecorded from plant roots.

Keywords  Thozetella tocklaiensis; pasture roots; root-colonising; sporulation; microawns

B96021

Received 10 April 1996; accepted 11 July 1996

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