Effect of temperature and pH on growth and sporulation of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lini (Bolley) Synder and Hensan causing linseed wilt under environmental condition

Abstract

An experiment was conducted on effect of atmospheric temperature and substrate pH on growth, development and sporulation of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lini. The pathogen was collected from linseed growing areas of crop research farm Nawabganj, C.S. Azad University and Technology, Kanpur, UP during Rabi 2016-17. The optimum temperature range for growth was found to be 25 °C to 30 °C. However, the minimum growth was recorded at 45 °C and 10 °C. No growth and sporulation were observed at 50 °C temperature. The pathogen grows over a wide range of pH i.e., from 3.0 to 8.0, but the most suitable pH for its growth was observed to be 7.0 at which the maximum growth of the fungus was recorded which was closely followed by pH 6.5. However, with the increase of acidity or alkalinity, the growth of the fungus was hampered and lowest growth was recorded at pH 3.0.