Identification of Seedborne Fungi on Soybean (Glycine max L.) Seeds Grown in Mediterranean Region of Turkey

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is one of the most valuable oilseed crops in the world. It is not only an oil seed crop and feed for livestock, but also valuable mineral and vitamins sources for the human diet. The soybean yield is affected by various biotic and abiotic stress factors in all growing seasons. Diseases are one of the most significant biotic factors that reduce soybean growth and yield. Fungi are important pathogens affecting yield and quality by attacking plants during the growth period and after harvest. This study was conducted to detect and identify the seed-borne fungi associated with the soybean seed. From this context, 150 soybean seeds were randomly chosen from the experimental fields of Akdeniz University in Antalya province of Turkey. These seeds were sterilized with 70% ethanol for 1 min, followed by 10% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min and then rinsed with sterile water and then placed in Petri plates by using the agar plate method. A total of four seedborne fungi species namely Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Cladosporium spp. and Fusarium spp. were isolated from the soybean seeds. Additionally, Genomic DNAs of these fungal species were extracted and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA was amplified with the ITS-1 and ITS-4 primers using a thermal cycler. After sequencing of amplified products, the sequences were aligned. BLASTn analysis of each sequence showed that the sequences of the fungi had the similarity (99%) to the fungal isolates deposited in the GenBank.