Characterization, phylogenetic analyses and pathogenicity of Bipolaris setariae associated with brown stripe disease on sugarcane in Yunnan, China

Abstract Brown stripe disease is a severe foliar fungal disease of sugarcane worldwide and is widespread in all sugarcane planting areas in China. Brown stripe is a major disease that seriously affects the output and quality of the sugarcane industry in Yunnan Province, China's second‐largest sugar base, while the pathogen of this disease remains not yet fully understood. To address this, we isolated and identified the fungi associated with 68 leaf samples showing typical symptoms of brown stripe from 22 sugarcane varieties in different areas of Yunnan Province. A total of 113 isolates were obtained, which were morphologically similar. Of these, 64 representative isolates were sequenced for the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), GAPDH and EF‐1α loci. All representative isolates grouped with the type strain of Bipolaris setariae in the phylogenetic trees inferred with individual and concatenated sequences of ITS, GAPDH and EF1‐α . Pathogenicity test results showed that B . setariae strains were able to induce typical symptoms of brown stripe. The results obtained in this study clarify that only B . setariae is associated with sugarcane brown stripe in Yunnan, China. It is recorded here for the first time as a pathogen causing sugarcane brown stripe in Yunnan, and it is able to infect many major cultivars and new varieties, posing a new threat to the sugar industry in Yunnan Province. In addition, these results provide the scientific basis for the future breeding of disease‐resistant varieties and effective prevention and control of sugarcane brown stripe disease.