First report of mango malformation disease caused by Fusarium pseudocircinatum in Mexico.
Freeman S., Otero-Colina G., Rodríguez-Alvarado G., Fernández-Pavía S., Maymon M., Ploetz R. C., Aoki T., O'Donnell K.
Author Affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel.
Plant Disease 98 :1583
Abstract : After the first report in India in 1891, mango malformation disease (MMD) has spread worldwide to most mango-growing regions. Several species of Fusarium cause the disease, including F. mangiferae in India, Israel, the USA (Florida), Egypt, South Africa, Oman, and elsewhere; F. sterilihyphosum in South Africa and Brazil; F. proliferatum in China; F. mexicanum in Mexico; and recently, F. tupiense in Brazil. Besides F. mexicanum, F. pseudocircinatum, not yet reported as a causal agent of MMD, was isolated in Mexico from affected inflorescences and vegetative malformed tissues. Symptoms of vegetative malformation caused by F. pseudocircinatum included hypertrophied, tightly bunched young shoots, with swollen apical and lateral buds producing misshapen terminals with shortened internodes and dwarfed leaves. Infected inflorescences of primary or secondary axes on affected panicles were shortened, thickened, and highly branched, while the peduncles became thick, remained green and fleshy, and branches profusely resembled a cauliflower in shape and size. Ten isolates of F. pseudocircinatum were recovered from cultivars Ataulfo, Criollo, Haden, and Tommy Atkins in Guerrero, Campeche, and Chiapas states and characterized. The results of morphological observations, molecular phylogenetic analyses and pathogenicity tests are presented. This is thought to be the first report of F. pseudocircinatum as a causal agent of MMD.