Identification of cotton non-pathogenic fungal agent isolates based on morphological and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry method

In this study, morphological and MALDI-TOF MS identification and comparison of non-pathogenic fungal species isolated from diseased root, leaf and boll tissues of cotton plants were carried out. For this purpose, surveys were conducted in Bağlar, Sur, Çınar, Bismil, Yenişehir, Ergani, Eğil, Kayapınar and Silvan districts of Diyarbakır province where cotton production is intensive between June and September 2020 and 2021. 209 samples of plants showing typical fungal disease symptoms were collected from 75 different cotton production areas. A total of 171 fungal isolates were obtained by isolation, culture and purification procedures from diseased plant tissues in the samples. The 20 isolates that were negative in the pathogenicity test in the main host were identified and compared by morphological (traditional) and MALDI-TOF MS methods. According to the results, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus minisclerotigenes, Penicillium nalgıovense, Chaetomium globosum, Dichotomopilus funicola, Arthroderma gloria, Pseudogmnoacus pannorum, Tichophyton interdigitale, and Penicillium sp. Penicillium sp. were found to be intensively colonized in different parts of cotton such as leaves, bolls and roots. Again, it was determined that the most common species among the total saprophyte isolates was Aspergillus niger with a high similarity rate.