Abstract
Intact flowers and fruits on tomato cultivar Reiyo were inoculated with a conidial suspension of the causal pathogen of foot rot of tomato, Fusarium solani f. sp. eumartii 04T-2 (MAFF 240346), and the fungus was verified to cause the rot symptoms on these organs. Rot on fruits began at the base of the style, and a maximum of 34.8% of the fruits developed the rot. After wound inoculation of detached fruits, the rot symptom started to appear after 48 h, and 95.0% of the inoculated fruits had rotted after 96 h at 25°C. When healthy stems of cvs. Reiyo and Joint were inoculated with the fungus cultured on a soil wheat mixture, a brown rot identical to the natural symptom was reproduced on the stems of the cultivars. Inoculation of intact stems with a conidial suspension also caused symptoms on the stems of the both cultivars. These results indicate that F. solani f. sp. eumartii is pathogenic on flowers, fruits and stems of tomato plants. These aerial parts of the plants can also become sources of inoculum.
