Mycelial discs (4 mm diam.) were taken from actively sporulating areas near the growing edge of 7 day old cultures and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA, Criterion®, Santa Maria, USA) and incubated at 28°C. Three replicate cultures of each isolate were investigated. After 7 days, size and shape of 20 conidia harvested from the cultures were recorded (Than et al., 2008a).
Colony diameter was measured daily for 7 days and growth rate was calculated as the 7 day average of mean daily growth (mm per day). After 7 days, colony size, colour of the conidial masses and zonation were recorded
Appressoria were produced using a slide culture technique, in which 10 mm2 squares of PDA were placed in an empty Petri dish. The edge of the agar was inoculated with spores taken from a sporulating culture and a sterile cover slip was placed over the inoculated agar (Johnston and Jones, 1997). After 3-7 days, the shape and size of the appressoria formed across the underside of the cover slip were studied.