Morphological and Molecular Identification of Seedborne Fungi in Squash (, ).

Squash is one of the most important crops of tropical and temperate regions, and it can be affected by several fungal pathogens. Most of these pathogens infect the seeds, which become an efficient vehicle to disperse seedborne pathogens over long distances, with consequent severe crop losses. The main objective of this study was the identification of the principal seedborne fungi in seeds extracted from 66 samples of asymptomatic and symptomatic squash fruit (, ) collected in two countries, Tunisia and Italy. The symptoms of fruit decay were identified and classified according to lesion size. Following the blotter test, 14 fungal species were detected from the seeds. Seedborne fungi were identified in all fruit samples tested, including asymptomatic fruit. The most frequent fungi from Tunisian seeds were (25.1%), followed by (24.6%), (16.6%), (13.3%), (7.8%), (3.3%), and (2.3%). For the fruits from Italy, the most frequently identified fungal species in seed samples were (40.0%), followed by (20.8%), (3.0%), and (2.1%). Morphological identification was confirmed by molecular diagnosis using the available species-specific primers. Furthermore, specific primers were designed to identify , , and . Application of seed-health testing methods, including such conventional and molecular diagnostic tools, will help to improve seed quality and crop yields.