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Eur J Plant Pathol (2013) 135:619625 DOI 10.1007/s10658-012-0117-z
Characterisation and pathogenicity of Pestalotiopsis uvicola and Pestalotiopsis clavispora causing grey leaf spot of mango (Mangifera indica L.) in Italy
Ahmed Mahmoud Ismail & Gabriella Cirvilleri &
Giancarlo Polizzi
Accepted: 10 October 2012 /Published online: 19 October 2012 # KNPV 2012
Abstract During 2009 and 2010, twenty-one isolates of Pestalotiopsis spp. Associated with grey patches on the leaves, twigs, and panicles of mango were collected in six orchards located in Sicily (Italy). Morphological characteristics of colony (colour and mycelium appearance), and conidia (size, shape, septation, length and the number of apical and the basal appendages) as well as phylogenetic analysis of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region (ITS1, 5.8S gene, and ITS2) of six representative isolates revealed the occurrence of P. uvicola and P. clavispora. The representative isolates of both species were pathogenic to the artificially inoculated detached mango leaves cv. Kensington Pride and showed significant variation in lesion size. This is the first report worldwide ofP. uvicola and P. clavispora causing grey leaf spot of mango.
Keywords Mango diseases . Leaf spot . Pestalotiopsis spp. . Molecular characterisation . Pathogenicity
The mango (Mangifera indica L., family Anacardiaceae) is grown throughout a wide range of frost-free climates and is one of the worlds most important fruit crops (Litz 1998). Pestalotiopsis mangiferae (Henn.) Steyaert (syn. Pestalotia mangiferae Henn.) is the casual agent of grey leaf spot and stem-end rot of mango fruit in several countries (Mordue 1980; Lim and Khoo 1985; Johnson 1994; Ko et al. 2007). Grey leaf spot, although common on mango in the tropics, is usually a minor problem (Lim 1998). P. mangiferae is a weak pathogen that usually requires wounding in order to infect mango. Other Pestalotiopsis species were described on mango plants. P. mangifolia (Guba) J. Xiang Zhang & T. Xu was founded associated to leaf spot and P. versicolor (Speg.) Steyaert was detected on flowers (Lim 1998). In addition, P. glandicola (Castagne) Steyaert was reported as causal agent of a post-harvest disease of mango in Bangalore (Ullasa and Rawal 1989). Since 1990, mango cultivation was introduced to the southern Italy (Sicily) and the main diseases present in this area are not recognised. Recently, during a survey conducted in mango plantations in Sicily,...