Genetically modified Bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) leaves with typical symptoms of Alternaria early blight disease resembling that of tomato and potato were observed in the main cotton growing schemes in Sudan. Symptoms on leaves appeared as either brown 2leaf spot with gray centers or leaf blight with concentric rings. Pathogenicity tests using isolates with both symptoms showed that the isolated fungi were highly pathogenic to both G. hirsutum and G. barbadense cotton varieties. Alternaria alternata isolated from infected tomato and potato leaves with early blight symptoms was included for comparison. Microscopic examination showed that the mean length of conidia from cotton, tomato and potato isolates ranged from 26.25 to 45.45 μm, while the width ranged from 9.56 to 13.64 μm. The mean number of transverse septa among all isolates was 3.4 to 5.7 and the peak length ranged from 3.75 to 7.8 μm. Based on morphological characteristics the two isolates from cotton were identified as A. alternata. Genomic DNA was extracted directly from fungal cultures grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates using a Zymo Research Quick DNA kit. A species-specific primer using the internal transcribed spacer ribosomal DNA (ITS rDNA) PCR scoring indicated the presence of A. alternata using primer pair ITS4/ITS5. Amplifications of the internal transcribed spacer region of 600 bp revealed 100% identity of the isolated fungus from cotton with A. alternata from tomato and potato. These data oblige us to reconsider the presence of A. alternata in the four main cotton growing schemes in Sudan while these symptoms have always been described for tomato and potato early blight disease.

Lisianthus ( Eustoma grandiflorum) has become a major flowering plant in Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. Its cultivation area has increased steadily with each passing year for two decades. Simultaneously, many types of lisianthus diseases related to damping-off symptoms have also increased dramatically. To create a strategy for preventing the disease, disease symptoms and pathogenic organisms of primary problematic disease with seasonal variation in the emergence were investigated. The symptoms were diagnosed as Fusarium stem rot (Kukigusare-byo) and the pathogen of the disease was identified as Fusarium avenaceum based on multigene sequences analyses. Indeed, the PCR result of the isolated strain in this study was the same as that isolated from lisianthus plants with Fusarium stem rot in Hokkaido Prefecture. Furthermore, the pathogen is clustered separately from the other F. avenaceum strains isolated from lisianthus in the USA. Diseased lisianthus plants spread throughout greenhouses even though several fungicides were applied. Additionally, they appeared from November to January and increased to 0.3% of the total number. Fusarium stem rot was found in 43.8% of the total number of farms from 2020–2021 in Okinawa Main Island.