Abstract
Over 250 monosporic isolates of Fusarium spp. that belong to the Fusarium section Liseola were isolated from asparagus stems and from adult asparagus beetles in seven asparagus fields in Connecticut, one in Massachusetts, and one in Michigan. Sexual compatibility pairings with standard tester strains from six (A-F) distinct mating populations of Gibberella fujikuroi revealed that 238 out of 253 isolates (94%) could be assigned to the “D” population of G. fujikuroi (anamorph = F. proliferatum). The remaining 15 isolates were identified as F. proliferatum but could not be assigned to any mating population. This is the first report of isolates in the “D” populations of G. fujikuroi predominating in a host/pathogen complex.