Khemir, E. , Souissi, A. , Bouatrous, Asma , Chekali, S. , Achour, I. , Gargouri, S.
2026-02-01 JOURNAL OF PLANT PATHOLOGY 2026 108(卷), 1(期), (605-617页)
The objectives of this study were to monitor the incidence of Fusarium foot and root rot (FFRR) in the main cereal-producing areas of Tunisia over three cropping seasons and to evaluate its relationship with F. culmorum inoculum in the soil. A total of 266 fields were surveyed, with 13,300 stem base and 13,300 root samples collected arbitrarily during the 2012/2013, 2013/2014, and 2014/2015 cropping seasons. The recovery of Fusarium species was assessed through morphological identification. Among the isolated species, F. culmorum was the most prevalent, being detected in 89% of the surveyed sites. The incidence of F. culmorum was significantly higher in humid areas (32%) compared to sub-humid (17%) and upper semi-arid regions (15%). Durum wheat exhibited the highest incidence (23%) among cereal species, followed by bread wheat (15%), oats (11%), and barley (10%). Our analysis revealed that F. culmorum is significantly more frequent on stem bases (22%) than on roots (10%). These findings demonstrate the importance of crop residues left on the soil at the level of plant stems for infection by Fusarium species. Results from our survey indicated that the previous crop significantly affects disease incidence. Quantification of F. culmorum inoculum from soil dilutions and DNA extracts showed a strong correlation with FFRR incidence in the following year, suggesting that monitoring soil inoculum levels could help predict disease incidence and guide management strategies in wheat.