Members of Botryosphaeriaceae family with 25 genera and several species are spread over a wide range of lands and climates worldwide. They cause gummosis, decline, dieback and blight on many woody plants. The purpose of present study was to diagnose the pathogens linked to the aforementioned symptoms on almond trees in seven orchards of Yozgat province (Türkiye) with a DSb type climate (Hot humid continental - Köppen Geiger system of climatic classification).These trees indicated and displayed dieback, gummosis trunk and branch canker symptoms. They were identified by cultural and morphological characteristics, and compared by phylogenetic sequencing of the ITS regions, EF-1α and β-tubulin genes with those of other species in GenBank (NCBI). Diplodia seriata, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Neofusicoccum parvum and Botryosphaeria dothidea were identified in 72 isolates based on the colony and conidial characteristics. Successful pathogenicity tests were carried out on two-year-old almond seedlings of cv: Ferredual using Koch’s postulates. The results validated the identification According to available literature on the subject, identification of B. dothidea was done for the first time on almond trees in Türkiye. Accurate identification, prevalence and incidence of the pathogens are crucial for developing effective disease management strategies to arrest disease outbreaks in Türkiye.

In 2021, post-harvest soil samples were taken from fields where chickpea and wheat were grown in Yozgat province to isolate bacteria. Of 74 isolates obtained from soil samples, 14 nonpathogenic isolates were evaluated for their inhibitory potential against two pathogenic isolates (YBUFoc9 and YBUFoc2) of Fusarium wilt disease agent Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. Antagonistic bacterial isolates were identified as Bacillus spp. by Blastn analysis based on their 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences. Among them, 2 isolates were identified as B. amyloliquefaciens (BM23 and BM40), 3 isolates as B. subtilis (BM8, BM32, and BM105), 6 isolates as B. cereus (BM10, BM69, BM70, BM104, BM111 and BM215), 2 isolates as B. megaterium (BM44 and BM135) and 1 isolate as B. pumilus (BM28). No effective isolate of any genus other than Bacillus spp. was found. They inhibited mycelial growth of isolates YBUFoc9 and YBUFoc2 from 0 to 78.50% and from 0 to 58.33%, respectively. Among the 5 different species, B. amyloliquefaciens (BM23 and BM40) and B. subtilis (BM8, BM32, and BM105) showed the strongest inhibitory activity against the two fungal isolates under in vitro conditions. In further studies, the biocontrol properties of the most effective isolates (BM23, BM40, BM8, BM32 and BM105) will be investigated and compared with approved fungicides for their fungicidal activity.