First report of bermudagrass as a host for rapid blight
Summary: Rapid blight, a newly characterized disease of cool season turfgrass, can be problematic in the same locations for several years, even when fungicide applications are routinely made for its control. It is not known, however, how or where the pathogen survives. Samples taken from Arizona golf courses that overseed indicate that many other grasses, including warm season turfgrasses, are hosts for the rapid blight pathogen, Labyrinthula terrestris. In this study, we found that L. terrestris does indeed “over-summer” in the roots and stolons of bermudagrass, even in locations that have not been overseeded in several years, and even in locations that are regularly treated with fungicides targeted at controlling rapid blight. This suggests that bermudagrass serves as a large, symptomless reservoir of rapid blight inoculum, an observation that helps explain why rapid blight is such a perpetual threat in overseeded turfgrass systems.
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Investigators: Mary W. Olsen and Michele J. Kohout, University of Arizona, Department of Plant Sciences
