Neck Rot Disease Caused by Athelia rolfsii, the Main Disease in Seedling of Elephant Foot Yam in Bali

Abstract

Several tuber crops have been used as sources of carbohydrates based food. One of them is Elephant foot yams (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume).  In addition to carbohydrate, this plant is also contain, fats, protein, minerals, vitamins and fiber. Cultivation of this plant usually started with seedling preparation made of tuber, bulbil or seed.  However, during seedling preparation, several diseases appear and resulted in serious damage to the seedling. This study was done to identify the main diseases appeared during seedling preparation of elephant foot yam. The diseases survey was done in three centers of elephant foot yam seedling preparation namely Asah Duren Village, Bading Kayu Village, Jembrana Regency, Belalang Village, Tabanan Regency Bali. In each location, three seedling beds of 500 seedlings were observed to determine disease incidence based on disease symptom. Sample of diseased seedlings were taken and brought to the laboratory for identification. Analysis of 18S rRNA gene was done to identify the causal fungus. Results of this study showed that the main diseases of elephant foot yam seedlings in Bali were neck rot and leaf blight diseases, with disease incidences were 18.7% and 3.1% for neck rot and leaf blight disease respectively. Based on molecular identification, the isolate Pr1 as the cause of the neck rot disease is Athelia rolfsii. This isolate showed 99.12% similarity with 18S rRNA genes of several fungal strains deposited in GenBank. This study suggested that the main disease in seedling of elephant foot yam in Bali is neck rot disease caused by Athelia rolfsii Pr1.

Keywords: main diseases, elephant foot yams, seedling preparation

DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/14-1-05

Publication date: January 31^st 2024