Fungal Diversity in Guizhou Orchards

From 2021 to 2022, 94 samples were collected from orchards in six locations of Guizhou Province (Congjiang, Kaiyang, Longli, Luodian, Nayong and Wengan counties), including 10 host species (cherry, loquat, passionfruit, pitaya, plum, pomegranate, Rosa roxburghii, shaddock, tangerines and walnut). To obtain pure cultures, leaf surfaces were disinfected according to Zhang et al. [21 (link)]. Abundant conidia were observed on the surface of the leaf spots examined using a dissecting microscope. Single conidia were picked off the leaves with a sterilized needle and placed on a drip board containing sterilized water. After 12 h, the germination of conidium was observed, and they were then transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at room temperature (28 °C) for 10 days. Morphological characteristics of the fungi were observed and photographed using a compound light microscope (Zeiss Scope 5) with an attached camera (AxioCam 208 color). All new taxa were registered in the Index Fungorum database (www.indexfungorum.org) (accessed on 13 October 2022). Dried holotype specimens were conserved in the Herbarium of the Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural College, Guizhou University (HGUP), while cultures were conserved in the Departmental Culture Collection (GUCC).