Widespread Detection of Phytophthora Taxon Salixsoil in the Littoral Zone of Lake Constance, Germany

Abstract

An unnamed ITS clade 6 Phytophthora was frequently isolated from rhizosphere soil of reed (Phragmites australis) growing on the littoral zone of Lake Constance. The isolates closely resembled P. gonapodyides, having internally proliferating, non-papillate sporangia, a rather high temperature optimum for growth (30 °C), and being sexually sterile. ITS sequence analysis revealed that they were identical to the as yet unnamed Phytophthora taxon Salixsoil, originally isolated from Salix roots in the UK and Alnus debris in Denmark. The taxon was readily isolated from permanently as well as occasionally flooded reed sites using standard baiting procedures, indicating a wide distribution in the Lake Constance littoral zone. In an in vitro leaf inoculation assay P. taxon Salixsoil proved to be more aggressive towards Salix alba than P. gonapodyides. The new taxon may be of significance as a root pathogen of woody plants in moist or flooded situations occurring in alluvial forest/plant communities. We propose that due to its close resemblance to P. gonapodyides the taxon might have passed unnoticed in the past, and possibly is much more widely distributed than previously recognised.