Fusarium diseases, including corn root rot, sheath rot, stalk rot, and ear rot are frequently occurring in maize producing areas of China. Fusarium stalk rot and ear rot are the most serious diseases and often occur at the same time, but it is unclear whether there is a correlation between Fusarium composition and disease occurrence. This study was conducted to clarify the relationship between the two diseases. A total of 49 corn stalk rot samples were collected from 15 regions of eight provinces in China from 2016 to 2018. The pathogens were isolated and identified separately from stalks, ear stems, and kernels. The contents of the fumonisins (FB1 and FB2) were detected in kernels. The results showed that the main Fusarium species were found in corn kernels, ear stems and stalks at the same time. The results showed that 1201 strains of Fusarium verticillioides, 668 strains of Fusarium oxysporum, 574 strains of Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC), 318 strains of Fusarium equiseti, 95 strains of Fusarium proliferatum, and 40 strains of Fusarium subglutinans were isolated from 1470 corn kernels, 245 ear stems, and 1225 stalks randomly selected from 49 samples. The contamination rate of fumonisins in the 49 samples was 57.1% with an average content of 1.9 μg/g, of which four samples exhibited higher levels as set by the European Commission (4.0 μg/g). These results provide a certain association between stalk rot and ear rot and lay a foundation to study the relationships among Fusarium maize diseases.
Keywords: Fusarium species; corn stalk rot; ear rot; fumonisins.