First record of Efibula tuberculata (Basidiomycota: Polyporales) isolated from sugarcane in Egypt

Abstract A new pathogenic fungus was noticed in 2020 for the first time as white rot on cuttings of sugarcane-grown fields of El-Mattana district (Luxor governorate), Kom-Ombo district (Asswan governorate) and Qus district (Qena governorate), Egypt. The causal organism was isolated from affected cuttings using Koch’s postulates, during 2021 and repeated at 2022, the relationship between the recovered isolate and the observed symptoms had been established. Artificially inoculated cuttings of sugarcane cultivar G.T. 54-9 gave symptoms similar to those appeared on naturally field-infected sugarcane cuttings. Morphological characters and molecular analysis, based on fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), were carried out to detect the recovered isolate. Identification of fungal pathogen revealed that Efibula tuberculata, Basidiomycota, was the causal organism of the white-rot of cuttings and roots of sugarcane. According to the available literature, this was the first report of occurring E. tuberculata isolate lux in Egypt and also as a sugarcane pathogen globally. Further studies to find the potent strategy to control, determine the susceptibility of different sugarcane cultivars and the fungus host range are needed.