AUTHOR=Abbas Aqleem , Mubeen Mustansar , Sohail Muhammad Aamir , Solanki Manoj Kumar , Hussain Babar , Nosheen Shaista , Kashyap Brijendra Kumar , Zhou Lei , Fang Xiangling TITLE=Root rot a silent alfalfa killer in China: Distribution, fungal, and oomycete pathogens, impact of climatic factors and its management JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.961794 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.961794 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
Alfalfa plays a significant role in the pasture ecosystems of China’s north, northeast, and northwest regions. It is an excellent forage for livestock, improves soil structure, prevents soil erosion, and has ecological benefits. Presently root rot is a significant threat to the alfalfa productivity because of the survival of the pathogens as soil-borne and because of lack of microbial competition in the impoverished nutrient-deficient soils and resistant cultivars. Furthermore, these regions’ extreme ecological and environmental conditions predispose alfalfa to root rot. Moisture and temperature, in particular, have a considerable impact on the severity of root rot. Pathogens such as