Neofusicoccum species causing branch cankers on avocado in Crete (Greece)
- PDF / 3,181,785 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 10 Downloads / 188 Views
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Neofusicoccum species causing branch cankers on avocado in Crete (Greece) Vladimiro Guarnaccia 1,2,3
&
Giancarlo Polizzi 4 & Nikos Papadantonakis 5 & M. Lodovica Gullino 2,3
Received: 17 December 2019 / Accepted: 14 July 2020 # Società Italiana di Patologia Vegetale (S.I.Pa.V.) 2020
Abstract Branch cankers is one of the most important threats to avocado production. During the late summer of 2016, sampling was conducted in the main avocado growing area in Chania Province, Crete, Greece, to study the occurrence of branch cankers and identify the causal agents. Four fungal isolates were identified using a polyphasic approach including morphological characters and a multilocus molecular phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) translation elongation factor 1alpha gene (tef-1α), beta-tubulin (tub2) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2). The isolates were identified as Neofusicoccum parvum and N. stellenboschiana. Pathogenicity tests showed both the Neofusicoccum species as pathogenic. To our knowledge, this is the first report of these pathogens causing branch cankers on avocado in Greece. Keywords Canker . Morphology . Multi-locus sequence typing . Neofusicoccum . Pathogenicity
Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is native to Mexico but it is cultivated worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions. European commercial plantations of avocado started in Spain and expanded through the whole European Mediterranean basin (Pérez-Jiménez 2008). The cultivation of avocado in Greece is located mainly in Crete island, where approximately 10.000 tones of fruit are produced per year in more than 1.200 ha. Several fungal diseases such as branch cankers and fruit stem-end rot have recently been reported worldwide in association with Diaporthe, Neocosmospora and Neofusicoccum species (Guarnaccia et al. 2016, 2018;
* Vladimiro Guarnaccia [email protected] 1
Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 Ct, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2
Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, Largo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, TO, Italy
3
Centre for Innovation in the Agro-Environmental Sector, AGROINNOVA, University of Torino, Largo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, TO, Italy
4
Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy
5
Directorate of Agricultural Economy and Veterinary, Regional Unit of Chania Department of Quality and Phytosanitary Control, Agia, 73103, Chania, Crete, Greece
McDonald and Eskalen 2011; Valencia et al. 2019). In September 2016, serious branch cankers on avocado 5-yearold trees (cv. ‘Hass’) were observed in an orchard (1.5 ha) located in the Chania Province (Crete, Greece). More than 20% of the plants were severely affected showing wilted branches (Fig. 1). Barks showed cracking, and were darkly discolored and sunken. A white powder was present on the surface occasionally. Internal
Data Loading...
