First Report Of Leaf Spot Caused By Cochliobolus Eragroslidis On Corn (Zea Mays L.) In Fujian Province, China

Corn (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important crops in China and the world. Approximately 60,000 ha of corn, especially sweet and waxy corn, are planted yearly in Fujian province (Dai et al. 2016). Leaf spot symptoms were observed on corn beginning in July 2016. The symptoms began as small, water-soaked lesions on young corn leaves, and then became larger, dark brown, necrotic lesions, 1 to 6 mm long. Lesions presented as gray-white in the center with a dark brown halo at the margin (e-Xtra, Fig. 2C). Finally, the most affected leaves became necrotic. To determine the causal agent, a total of 30 corn leaves exhibiting leaf spots were collected from Putian, Xianyou and Xiapu in Fujian Province of China. Small pieces（5 mm × 5 mm）from infected leaves were surface sterilized in 75% (v/v) alcohol for 2 min, and then in 0.1% (w/v) mercuric chloride solution for 90 s. Pieces were rinsed three times in sterilized distilled water, placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) containing 50 μg•ml-1 rifampicin, and incubat...