MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR VARIATION OF FUSARIUM OXYSPORUM F.SP LYCOPERSICI ISOLATES CAUSING FUSARIUM WILT IN TOMATO

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most important, commercial and widely grown vegetable crop in the world. Tomato plays a critical role in nutritional food requirements, income and employment opportunities for the people. However, its production is threatened by the Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici and productionlossesbetween30%to40%. In the present investigation an attempt has been made to study the morphological and molecular variation of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp lycopersici isolates. Usual identification of Fusarium species based on their micro and macroscopic features and morphological characters alone may lead to incorrect designation. In order to identify the correct species, we amplified the 18S rRNA gene region by PCR, sequenced and analyzed for sequence similarity among the NCBI data through BLAST. Further, PCR amplification of ITS regions was performed using ITS primers. The amplified product of 18S rRNA gene was sequenced and deposited to Gen Bank with the accession numbers.