LAUSR

Seeds play a critical role in the production of American ginseng. Seeds are also one of the most important media for the long-distant dissemination and the crucial way for pathogen survival. Figuring out the pathogens carried by seeds is the basis for effective management of seed-borne diseases. In this paper, we tested the fungi carried by the seeds of American ginseng from main production areas of China using incubation and highly throughput sequencing methods. The seed-carried rates of fungi in Liuba, Fusong, Rongcheng, and Wendeng were 100%, 93.8%, 75.2%, and 45.7%, respectively. Sixty-seven fungal species, which belonged to twenty-eight genera, were isolated from the seeds. Eleven pathogens were identified from the seed samples. Among the pathogens, Fusarium spp., were found in all of the seed samples. The relative abundance of Fusarium spp. in the kernel was higher than that in the shell. Alpha index showed that the fungal diversity between seed shell and kernel differed significantly. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that the samples from different provinces and between seed shell and kernel were distinctly separated. The inhibition rates of four fungicides to seed-carried fungi of American ginseng were 71.83% for Tebuconazole SC, 46.67% for Azoxystrobin SC, 46.08% for Fludioxonil WP, and 11.11% for Phenamacril SC. Fludioxonil, a conventional seed treatment agent, showed a low inhibitory effect on seed-carried fungi of American ginseng.