"New Phytopathogenic Fungus Species 'Epicoccum indicum' Discovered.

Environment

On February 1, 2025, a new species of phytopathogenic fungus, Epicoccum indicum (Ascomycota, Didymellaceae), associated with an emerging leaf spot disease in Chrysopogon zizanioides (vetiver), was discovered by researchers at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Uttar Pradesh (UP).


      - The discovery was made by Raghvendra Singh, Senior Assistant Professor, and Soumyadeep Rajwar, a research scholar, from the Department of Botany at BHU, UP.

      - The species name is derived from India, where it was first discovered.

     

Main Point :-   (i) This new species was identified based on morpho-cultural traits and molecular phylogenetic analyses, which involved multilocus sequencing.

      (ii) Phytopathogenic fungi are responsible for causing 70-80% of plant diseases, leading to substantial economic losses in agriculture and horticulture, and can be either necrotrophic (feeding on dead tissue) or biotrophic (colonizing living tissue).


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