Morphological and molecular characterization of Curvularia lunata pathogenic to andropogon grass

ABSTRACT The fungal genus Curvularia is associated with a number of diseases in plants, commonly producing foliar spots in forage grasses. The objective of this study was to characterize the morphological and molecular diversity of the isolates of Curvularia sp. associated with Andropogon seeds, and to assess both their capacity to transmit disease and the pathogenicity of this fungus to crop. Ten isolates of Curvularia sp. were sourced from Andropogon seeds from agricultural producing regions in the Brazilian states Tocantins and Pará. Morphological characterization was achieved by observing...