ПРИЛОЗИ, Одделение за природно-математички и биотехнички науки, МАНУ, том 40, бр. 1, стр. 93–103 (2019) CONTRIBUTIONS, Section of Natural, Mathematical and Biotechnical Sciences, MASA, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 93–103 (2019) Received: November 26, 2018 ISSN 1857–9027 Accepted: February 11, 2019 e-ISSN 1857–9949 UDC: 634.11-244.42(497.7)"2013/2017 634.53-244.42(497.7)"2013/2017 DOI: 10.20903/csnmbs.masa.2019.40.1.133 Original scientific paper PHYTOPHTHORA CACTORUM (LEBERT & COHN) J. SCHRÖT AS CAUSAL AGENT OF DIEBACK OF CHESTNUT AND APPLE TREES IN MACEDONIA# Mihajlo Risteski1*, Stephen Woodward2, Marin Ježić3, Rade Rusevski4, Biljana Kuzmanovska4, Kiril Sotirovski1 1Faculty of Forestry, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia 2The Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Scotland 3Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia 4Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia *e-mail:
[email protected] From 2013–2017, 11 chestnut populations and 16 apple orchards/plantations in Macedonia were examined for health; soil, root and bark samples were collected from trees expressing symptoms regarded as Phytophthora specific. Using leaf baits of Prunus laurocerasus and selective V8 Agar (PARPNH), 19 pure Phytophthora sp. cultures were isolated and identified as P. cactorum by ITS sequencing. Sixteen isolates were from apple trees and 3 from chestnut trees. Phylogenetic analyses suggested slight distance between P. cactorum isolates originating from chestnut trees compared to those from apple orchards. Assessment of pathogenicity using chestnuts twigs showed no differences be- tween P. cactorum isolates from the two tree host species.