Fusarium blight

G. avenacea is associated with Fusarioses, stalk and ear rot, head blight, scab, stem base diseases and root decline in a range of crops, mostly as a minor or associate pathogen of Fusarium complexes. Symptoms include foliar yellowing, wilt and root necrosis leading to eventual death (Ruppel, 1991). In lupins, small to large, often coalescing, lesions at stem base were produced, resulting in stunted growth and plant death when inoculated after epidermal wounding. On wheat, similar lesions are produced without any injury at stem base (Bateman, 1997).

In temporary pasture, root rot caused red clover decline in Belgium. Internal browning of roots followed by necrotic areas and tissue breakdown occurred on and in the main root (Wanson and Maraite, 1984). In annual species of Medicago it caused pre-emergence and post-emergence damping-off and discoloration of vascular and cortical tissue of 7 week old plant roots (Lamprecht et al., 1984). Affected buds were covered with dark brown lesions in which orange sporodochia appeared (Horita and Kodama, 1996). Crown rot symptoms include dull green coloration and water-stressed appearance with wilted leaves at growing tips (Koike et al., 1996). In lentils, it destroyed tap roots, resulting in stunting, chlorosis and post-emergence plant death (Lin and Cook, 1977). In raspberry, symptoms of lateral wilt are seen. Brown discolorations appear between leaf veins, the leaves wither and die, and eventually the whole cane or part of it (but not the whole stool), dies (Hargreaves and Jarvis, 1972), suggesting vascular blocking.