Fungal Taxonomy

Rhynchosporium was characterized for the first time by Oudemans (1897) as Marsonia secalis from rye in the Netherlands. Frank (1897) found the same disease on barley and rye in Germany caused by the same pathogen. Heinsen (1901) reclassified the fungus in Rhynchosporium based on its typical beak‐shaped, one‐septate spores, naming it Rhynchosporium graminicola.. Rhynchosporium species are classified into two groups based on conidial shape (King et al. 2013). Rhynchosporium commune, R. agropyri, and R. secalis are characterized by beak-shaped conidia while R. orthosporum and R. lolii have cylindrical conidia (King et al. 2013). All the species of this genus cause scald disease on gramineous plants (Fig 1) (King et al. 2013). Disease symptoms: Rhynchosporium commune causes scald disease which is characterized by typical lesions on leaves, ears and leaf [...]