Fungi inhabiting aboveground organs of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) in organic farming

Abstract

Sea buckthorn is becoming an increasingly popular medicinal plant. This plant material contains many nutrients and bioactive substances used in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Compounds found in the organs of this plant have antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, but, despite these features, sea buckthorn is affected by many pathogens. As shown by studies on the health and presence of pathogenic fungi on the aboveground organs of this plant, no obligatory pathogens and Basidiomycota fungi were found in 2019. The mycological analysis of the aboveground organs, i.e. leaves, fruits, and shoots, showed that Alternaria alternata was the most frequent species of fungi isolated from all examined organs. Moreover, the Monilinia fructigena and Botrytis cinerea species were often isolated from fruits and Cladosporium cladosporioides fungus was found on leaves. Numerous isolates of the pathogenic Fusarium sporotrichiodes fungus and single isolates of Phomopsis spp., i.e. fungi causing gangrene and drying out of the bark of shoots and the bark of many fruit plant species, and Nigrospora oryzae causing leaf blotch of herbaceous plants and fruit trees were obtained from the examined organs of the sea buckthorn. The mycological analysis revealed no species of the genus Verticillium, universally recognized as the most dangerous to this plant.