First Report of Colletotrichum scovillei Causing Anthracnose Fruit Rot on Pepper in Anhui Province, China

Abstract

HomePlant DiseaseVol. 100, No. 10First Report of Colletotrichum scovillei Causing Anthracnose Fruit Rot on Pepper in Anhui Province, China PreviousNext DISEASE NOTES OPENOpen Access licenseFirst Report of Colletotrichum scovillei Causing Anthracnose Fruit Rot on Pepper in Anhui Province, ChinaW. Zhao, T. Wang, Q. Q. Chen, Y. K. Chi, T. M. Swe, and R. D. QiW. ZhaoSearch for more papers by this author, T. WangSearch for more papers by this author, Q. Q. ChenSearch for more papers by this author, Y. K. ChiSearch for more papers by this author, T. M. SweSearch for more papers by this author, and R. D. QiSearch for more papers by this authorAffiliationsAuthors and Affiliations W. Zhao T. Wang Q. Q. Chen Y. K. Chi , Institute of Plant Protection and Agro-Products Safety, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei, 230031 China T. M. Swe , Biotechnological and Material Science Research Department, Ministry of Science and Technology, Kyaukse 05151, Myanmar R. D. Qi , Institute of Plant Protection and Agro-Products Safety, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei, 230031 China, and Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Crop Pests in Hefei, Ministry of Agriculture, Hefei 230031, China. Published Online:15 Jul 2016https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-04-16-0443-PDNAboutSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailWechat Anthracnose fruit rot is a major disease of pepper (Capsicum annuum), which causes severe damage and enormous economic loss in pepper production. Colletotrichum acutatum, C. coccodes, C. boninense, and C. capsici have been reported as causal agents for anthracnose on pepper in China (Xia et al. 2011; Diao et al. 2013). Since 2014, dark, circular, sunken zones with concentric rings of orange conidial masses, the typical anthracnose symptoms, have appeared on pepper fruits in Shitai, Anhui Province, China. Small tissue pieces from the edges of lesions on fruits were disinfected in 70% (v/v) ethanol for 30 s and in 2% (v/v) hypochlorous acid solution for 2 min, rinsed twice in sterilized water, air-dried, then incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25°C. Eight isolates of the pathogen were obtained from different diseased plants. Colony morphology on Spezieller Nährstoffarmer Agar (SNA) was pale gray to pale orange fluffy aerial mycelium. The conidia were hyaline, aseptate, smooth, straight, subcylindrical to clavate, with one end round and one end round or acute, 11.8 to 16.5 µm long and 3.2 to 4.5 µm wide, L/W ratio = 3.6. These morphological characters are consistent with the description of C. scovillei (Damm et al. 2012). To confirm this identification, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA regions, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) gene, and β-tubulin-2 (TUB2) gene were amplified with the primers ITS1/ITS4, GDF/GDR, and TUBT1/TUBT2, respectively. The consensus sequences of the ITS was deposited in GenBank under the accession number KU680418. Compared with the sequence of strain CBS 126529 of C. scovillei in GenBank (Damm et al. 2012), the amplification products showed 100% homology with the ITS sequence (GenBank Accession No. JQ948267), the GADPH sequence (JQ948597), and the TUB2 sequence (JQ949918), respectively. A pathogenicity test was performed by depositing 10 µl droplets of a suspension (105 conidia/ml) on the surfaces of five artificially wounded fruits (prick a small hole on pepper fruit using needle). Five wounded fruits were inoculated with sterilized distilled water as the control. After 5 days in a moist chamber at 25°C, symptoms similar to those observed on the original pepper plants had developed on the five wounded fruits that had been inoculated, and C. scovillei was reisolated from the lesions. The control fruits remained healthy. Recently, C. acutatum has been considered a species complex. C. scovillei is one of the species that belongs Clade D3 within the C. acutatum species complex (Damm et al. 2012). C. scovillei causing anthracnose disease on pepper was previously reported in Japan and Brazil (Caires et al. 2014; Takeshi et al. 2014). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of occurrence of anthracnose fruit rot caused by C. scovillei on pepper in China. This disease causes severe damage both in the field and postharvest and there is a need to develop effective control strategies in the pepper production in these regions.