Morphological and Molecular Identification of the Causal Agent of Anthracnose Disease of Avocado in Kenya.

Morphological and Molecular Identification of the Causal Agent of Anthracnose Disease of Avocado in Kenya. Int J Microbiol. 2018;2018:4568520 Authors: Kimaru SK, Monda E, Cheruiyot RC, Mbaka J, Alakonya A Abstract Anthracnose disease of avocado contributes to a huge loss of avocado fruits due to postharvest rot in Kenya. The causal agent of this disease has not been clear but presumed to be Colletotrichum gloeosporioides as reported in other regions where avocado is grown. The fungus mainly infects fruits causing symptoms such as small blackish spots, "pepper spots," and black spots with raised margin which coalesce as infection progresses. Due to economic losses associated with the disease and emerging information of other species of fungi as causal agents of the disease, this study was aimed at identifying causal agent(s) of the disease. A total of 80 fungal isolates were collected from diseased avocado fruits in Murang'a County, the main avocado growing region in Kenya. Forty-six isolates were morphologically identified as Colletotrichum spp. based on their cultural characteristics, mainly whitish, greyish, and creamish colour and cottony/velvety mycelia on the top side of the culture and greyish cream with concentric zonation on the reverse side. Their spores were straight with rounded end and nonseptate. Thirty-four isolates were identified as Pestalotiopsis spp. based on their cultural characteristics: whitish grey mycelium wit...
Source: International Journal of Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Tags: Int J Microbiol Source Type: research