DOI: 10.32649/ajas.2026.167858.1961 ISSN: 1992-7479

Survey, Morphological and Molecular Identification of Fusarium Solani Associated with Dieback Disease in Dalbergia Sissoo Trees in Erbil Province, Iraq

M. Y. M. Salih, K. M. Ahmed, M. J. Jameel, R. Y. Mohamed, S. K. Demir
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Dalbergia sissoo is a high-value deciduous tree species widely used in agroforestry, timber production, landscaping, and traditional medicine in many regions worldwide. However, it is facing dieback, one of the most fatal forest diseases which is posing a major threat to its survival, especially in central cities and plantation sites. This study investigated the incidence and identified the dieback pathogen agent in D. sissoo populations using morphological and molecular methods. The survey, conducted in three locations of Erbil governorate including 40 Meter Street, 60 Meter Street, and Hadi Chawshli Street, evaluated 543 trees for disease incidence which stood at 1.3, 39.9, and 31.8 for the above-mentioned locations, respectively. The diebacks which showed symptoms in plant parts such as root bark and leaf tissues were collected and selected for isolation and microscopic examination. Based on morphological characterization including colony color and microscopic appearance of fungal conidia, Fusarium solani was identified as the predominant pathogen, characterized by sickle-shaped macroconidia and oval microconidia. Alongside the morphological approach and for further confirmation, molecular identification was carried out by amplifying the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, and the resulting sequence confirmed species similarity, showing 100% sequence identity to F. solani reference strains (accession number PV247733) stored in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis further clustered the isolate with closely-related Fusarium species from different geographic regions

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