Foliar endophytic fungi of Ceará State (Brazil): a preliminary study.
Freire F. C. O., Bezerra J. L.
Author Affiliation: Embrapa Agroindústria Tropical-Fortaleza, 60.511-110, Ceará, Brazil.
Summa Phytopathologica 27 : 304-308
Abstract : A preliminary survey of endophytic fungi was undertaken with plant species of the Brazilian Northeastern Region, from March to September 1998, in different counties of Ceará State. Thirty-eight different genera were isolated as fungal endophytes from Anacardium occidentale, Copernicia prunifera, Malpighia emarginata, Mangifera indica, Manihot esculenta, Punica granatum, Ricinus communis, Spondias purpurea, S. tuberosa, Syagrus picrophylla and Syzygium jambolanum [Syzygium cumuni]. Endophytic species were mainly mitosporic fungi. Infection frequencies were higher for Colletotrichum gloeosporioides [Glomerella cingulata], Guignardia sp., Phaeotrichoconis crotalaria and for a Pterulopsis-like fungus. Some plant pathogenic fungi, e.g. Acremonium, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Guignardia, Lasiodiplodia, Phoma, Phomopsis, Septoria and Stagonospora sp. were isolated from healthy leaves. Among the 52 fungal taxa isolated during this investigation, 17 represent new records as endophytes in plants of the Brazilian Northeastern Region.