Anthracnose: a new leaf disease on Radermachera sinica (China doll) in China

• Published in: Plant disease
• Main Authors: Yu, Lin, Lyu, Chuang, Tang, Y F, Lan, Guobing, Li, Zhenggang, She, Xiaoman, He, Zifu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.09.2022
• Subjects: Fungi; Ornamentals; Radermachera sinica; leaf anthracnose; Colletotrichum siamense; Colletotrichum fructicola; Colletotrichum karstii; Crop Type; Pathogen detection; Causal Agent; woody ornamentals; Subject Areas
• ISSN: 0191-2917
• DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-01-22-0072-SC

(China doll) is a popular evergreen horticultural crop worldwide. However, little information has been provided describing the anthracnose disease of . In 2018, symptoms suspected of leaf anthracnose were observed on in gardens and commercial greenhouses in Guangzhou, China. Lesions on diseased leaves showed thinned and grayish white centers, dark-brown to black borders and raised black spots. Twenty-seven single-conidia isolates were obtained from symptomatic leaf lesions. Based on morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic analysis, nineteen isolates were identified as and six and two isolates were identified as and , respectively. pathogenicity test was conducted on leaves of plants and discovered that was more aggressive under wounded conditions than under unwounded conditions and caused symptomatic necrotic lesions on the leaf. Afterwards, the same pathogen was re-isolated from lesions of inoculated leaves to fulfill Koch's postulates. Whereas neither nor caused visible lesions on leaves of under wounded or unwounded conditions, indicating that they may be asymptomatic endophytes or opportunistic pathogens on . To our knowledge, this study is the first report of spp. associated with anthracnose disease on in China.