DIFFERENTIATION OF VERTICILLIUM-DAHLIAE POPULATIONS ON THE BASIS OF VEGETATIVE COMPATIBILITY AND PATHOGENICITY ON COTTON

Complementary auxotrophic nitrate-nonutilizing (nit) mutants were used to investigate ve compatibility within 27 strains of Verticillium dahliae isolated from several hosts originating from Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. Using about 500 nit mutants generated from these strains, three vegetative compatibility groups, 1, 2 and 4, were identified. Simultaneously, virulence of each strain was assessed on cultivars of Gossypium hirsutum, G. barbadense and G. arboreum, based upon Foliar Alteration Index (FAI) and Browning Index (BI) estimation. The strains in VCG1 were of both the cotton-defoliating pathotype and race 3 (on cotton) but were non pathogenic on tomato; those in VCG2 and VCG4 were of the nondefoliating pathotype and belonged to different races on cotton and on tomato. Hyaline mutants deriving from parental wild-type strain showed differences in pathogenicity but were always assigned to the parental VCG. A relationship was established between VCGs and the taxonomic position of host plants. Data from nit pairings indicated that the sub-populations of V. dahliae (VCGs) may not be completely isolated genetically.