WHEAT ROOT ROTTING FUNGI IN THE OLD AND NEW AGRICULTURAL LANDS OF EGYPT

Surveys were conducted from November 1991 to June 1992 to identify fun gi associated with wheat root in the Nile Valley, delta region, and ne w land areas of Egypt. A total of 1,024 fungal isolates were made from diseased roots and crowns of commercially grown spring wheat in Egypt . Thirteen different species were identified. The most frequently isol ated fungi were Fusarium culmorum, F. oxysporum, F. solani, Rhizoctoni a solani (AG)-4, Macrophomina phaseolina, and Alternaria solani, which represented 168, 134, 66, 221, 193, and 63 of the total number of iso lates, respectively. The identification of Gaeumannomyces graminis var . graminis from the new lands is the first report of this pathogen in Egypt. F. graminearum, a Helminthosporium sp., R. solani (AG)-4, M. ph aseolina aggressively rotted roots of the most widely planted spring w heat cultivar, Sakha 69.