Incidence, diversity and distribution of <i>Fusarium wilt</i> pathogens of eggplant in some major growing areas of Ashanti, Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana

Abstract

Fusarium wilt of eggplant is a major cause of losses to eggplant production globally. The disease is caused by many Fusarium species. In this study, incidence, diversity and distribution of Fusarium wilt pathogens of eggplants were determined in five communities each from Ashanti, Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana during the 2017–2019 cropping seasons. Purposive sampling method was used to select 10 eggplant farms infected with Fusarium wilt from each community. Infected eggplants were sampled for isolation and identification of Fusarium species. Fusarium wilt incidence was below 10% in 57.3% of the sampled farms. Differences in disease incidence were significant (p ≤ 0.05) between the Regions. Volta Region recorded the highest disease incidence. A total of eight Fusarium species were isolated. These included F. accuminatum, F. culmorum, F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum, F. poae, F. solani, F. subglutinans, and F. verticillioides. Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum and F. culmorum were the most occurring species, representing 92.79% of the isolates. Six, five and eight Fusarium species were isolated respectively in Ashanti, Eastern and Volta Regions. Inoculum density of the Fusarium species was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions than in the Volta Region.