| Fusarium isolates were collected from sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) roots in five fields planted to sorghum in Kansas and from different geographical zones in Mali. A total of 110 single-conidial strains were characterized by crosses with standard fertile mating testers on carrot agar plates. Most of the isolates from Mali were of the mating population A, accounting for 70% of the isolates, whereas 9% and 5% were of the F and D populations, respectively. F. proliferatum was placed in mating population D whereas those in mating populations A and F were F. moniliforme. Kansas isolates were mostly F. proliferatum (D population) and the isolates of F. subglutinans belonged to the E population.;The distortion and reduced plant heights, characteristic of the disease is an indication of quality loss for those who utilize sorghum stalks for other purposes, and more importantly, grain weight losses can reach 68%.;Strains of Fusarium subglutinans and F. proliferatum with growth promoting properties in lettuce and rice bioassays failed to show substantial performance in field experiments. Even if other growth promoting substances such as kinetin and 2,4-D could have influenced bioassays, commercial gibberellic acid applied at 10 ppm per 2000 sorghum seeds did not also improve either stand establishment or grain yield. By contrast, dressing with spore suspensions were better than commercial gibberellic acid for early stand enhancement.;Numerous sorghum accessions were inoculated in the field with F. subglutinans and F. proliferatum in 1995 and 1996. Plants were inoculated by either infesting seeds prior to planting with a concentration of 10... |
