Detection and identification of Phoma pathogens of potato.

Phoma foveata, Phoma exigua var. exigua, and Phoma eupyrena are fungal pathogens of potato, causing gangrene or pit rot symptoms in tubers, and they are responsible for significant crop losses. Various techniques are available to identify these pathogens in the laboratory. A multiplex Plexor(®) real-time PCR method which can detect and identify these pathogens in a single reaction will be presented.