First Report of Anthracnose Caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) in China

Abstract

China is the leading kiwifruit producer in the world (Belrose 2016). In late September of 2016, typical anthracnose symptoms were observed on young and mature leaves of kiwifruit cultivar ‘Hongyang’ in Taishun County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province and Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province, China. The disease symptoms began as, irregularly-shaped lesions, then developed into brown or black spots on infected leaves. By the later stages, the centers of the lesions had turned gray and the edges were dark brown (Fig. 1A-B). Twenty trees of ten kiwifruit orchards in each city has been investigated, approximately 20% of trees exhibited typical anthracnose symptoms. To isolate the pathogen, 5 mm2 pieces of symptomatic tissue of ten infected leaves were surface-disinfected for 90 s in 1% sodium hypochlorite then in 75% ethanol for 30 s, rinsed three times in sterile water, plated on acidified potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 25°C with a 12/12-h light/dark cycle. Three hyphal tips from the growing edge of...