Morphological and pathogenicity assay of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides - an anthracnose causing pathogen of fruits and vegetables.
Meenakshi Sharma, Saurabh Kulshrestha
Author Affiliation: Faculty of Biotechnology, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Bajhol, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.
International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research (IJASR) 5 : 131-138
Abstract : Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is an anthracnose causing fungal pathogen of various fruits and vegetables and causes both pre and post harvest losses to crops leading to huge losses to farmers. In order to check the prevalence of C. gloeosporioides infecting fruit crops (Apple, Guava, Kiwi, and mango) of Himachal Pradesh, it was isolated and checked for morphological variations and pathogenicity. The guava isolate of Dhaula kuan showed same morphology in term of growth and sporulation with standard strain of guava procured from IMTECH Chandigarh. The kiwi isolate of Solan and mango isolate of Dhaula Kuan showed same morphology in term of growth and sporulation with each other. But apple isolate of Shimla was different in morphology (slow growth and less number of spores) from other isolates. Oat meal agar media was found to be best media for sporulation of C. gloeosporioides out of other tested media such as: Potato dextrose agar, Lima bean agar, Malt extract agar. Pathogenesis assay of C. gloeosporioides (standard isolate from IMTECH, Chandigarh) was done to check the virulence. The isolate was found to be pathogenic to all the fruits and their detached leaves tested.