SURVEY OF FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH GRASS-ROOTS IN VIRGIN SOILS ON THE SPRINGBOK FLATS

Root- and soil-inhabiting fungi were isolated from various grass speci es in virgin soil at nine localities on the Springbok Flats with the i nitial purpose of detecting natural hosts of the crater disease pathog en of wheat, viz. Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn. Although Rhizoctonia spp. w ere found at four localities, all isolates were binucleate, and theref ore not R. solani. Nevertheless, the survey provided qualitative and q uantitative information on the indigenous soilborne mycoflora of the r egion. Periconia macrospinosa Levebvre & A.G. Johnson and Fusarium nyg amai Burgess & Trimboli were the dominant colonizers of grass roots. O ther fungi which occurred relatively commonly in roots included Fusari um oxysporum Schlecht. emend. Snyd. & Hans., F. solani (Mart.) Appel & Wollenw. emend. Snyd & Hans., F. equiseti (Corda) Sacc., F. monilifor me Sheldon, Phialophora spp., Stachybotrys elegans (Pidopl.) W. Gams, Gliocladium catenulatum Gilm. & Abbott, Acremonium strictum W. Gams, a nd Phoma sorghina (Sacc.) Boerema, Dorenbosch & van Kesteren.