A RAPID SEROLOGICAL TEST FOR DETECTING FUSARIUM-OXYSPORUM F-SP NARCISSI IN NARCISSUS

Polyclonal antiserum was elicited against a strain of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. narcissi (GCRI 80/26) and a specific and sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay developed. Antiserum raised to cell wall fractions gave better recognition than that to cytoplasmic fractions. Recognition was equally good in artificially and naturally infected bulbs. Little cross-reactivity in bulb tissue was shown by three other bulb-rotting fungi. Nine isolates of F. oxysporum f.sp. narcissi from a wide geographic area gave similar results in an indirect ELISA of mycelial extracts, although some cross-reactivity was observed with two other Fusarium spp. Four Fusarium spp. and four other fungi showed little cross-reactivity. Ten days after inoculation the pathogen was readily detected in the base plate area of three Narcissus cultivars and points remote from the inoculation site in the most susceptible cultivar. A direct correlation was observed between positive results in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and recovery of the pathogen on selective medium.